A/HRC/14/31 occurrence of poverty is particularly high in countries with large migratory trends and in countries hit by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Single older persons tend to be poorer in both developed and developing countries.10 C. Poverty among older women 19. Older women are disproportionately disadvantaged: they are marginalized due to their age and tend to be poorer than men. Because of gendered discrimination patterns throughout their life, women are often in a situation where they have accumulated lesser wealth than men. Cultural practices of early marriage and women’s longer life expectancy than men worldwide11 lead to a situation where women are more likely to be widows than men, and being widowed puts older women at higher risk of being poor. In many countries, women have limited access to land and other assets. For example, in India, 60 per cent of older women (compared to 30 per cent of older men) have no valuable assets in their name and research indicates that few female widows can count on family or community support.12 In urban China, poverty rates are three to four times higher among older women than among older men.13 20. Most older women are excluded from formal social security and health insurance schemes as these are linked to paid, formal-sector employment. In developing countries, the great majority of women work all their lives in the informal sector or unpaid activities. In developed countries too, older women are more likely than men to be poor at old age. On average, in European Union countries, older women have a poverty risk rate of about 22 per cent as compared to 16 per cent for older men.14 They are less likely to receive a large contributory pension since they are more likely to have stopped work at some point over their lifetime to take on the burden of child rearing and are also more likely to have received lesser wages for their work than men. 21. Older women are not only more likely to be poorer than men, but they are also likely to be burdened with caregiving responsibilities for other family members, especially their grandchildren. In some countries, accusations of witchcraft against poor older women are common, revealing worrying discriminative patterns. D. Old-age poverty and migration 22. In many parts of the world, the widespread migration of younger generations to the cities challenges the idea that the active generation will support their elders. In the rural regions of many Asian countries, urban migration is causing a substantial decrease of coresidence of older persons with their younger families. The same phenomenon is documented in African countries.15 Having to rely on their children that have moved 10 11 12 13 14 15 6 Closing the coverage gap, pp. 45–46. World Health Organization, Women Ageing and Health: A Framework for Action, Focus on Gender (Geneva, WHO, 2007), p. 3. Closing the Coverage Gap, p. 51; see also United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), Report of the Public Conference on Ageing Development and Social Protection, 2002, pp. 13–14. UNFPA, Demographic Change in China: Ageing of the World’s Largest Population, Papers in Population Ageing, No. 4 (UNFPA, 2007), p. 20. Ashgar Zaidi, “Poverty Risks for Older People in EU Countries – An Update” (European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research Policy Brief, Vienna, 2010), p. 8. Regional Dimensions of the Ageing Situation, p. 22. GE.10-12583