The dynamics of living arrangements for older people in two Nairobi Slums

Jennifer Baird, University of Southampton

There has been little investigation into the living arrangements of older people in slum environments in sub-Saharan Africa. Living arrangements are important indicators of welfare and have the potential to highlight existing vulnerability among older people, with the decision to live alone having potentially adverse consequences for an older person. This research aims to explore this further by looking at the changes in living arrangements of older people in this environment over time and the events connected to this. The study settings are two slums in Nairobi which are demographic surveillance systems and have yielded panel data on the household types of older people from 2002 to 2006. Event history analysis methods are used to explore the transitions from one household type to another over this period, and to establish whether these moves can be viewed as positive or negative.