This is a broad statistical overview of childlessness and its possible relation to living
arrangements among elderly women 60+ in several Latin American countries. One reason
childlessness and the living arrangements of childless elders is so important in Latin America is
the general expectation that older, and often widowed, people there will live with, and be cared
for, by their adult children (e.g., Bialik, 1992; Nugent 1990; United Nations, 2005). But what
happens when elders do not have adult children – are they simply left to fend for themselves,
often in a compromised way, possibly leading to a premature death? Or are there cultural
mechanisms, perhaps incorporated into the meaning of the extended family, that cover the
possibility that an older person in need may have no living child with whom to live or from
whom to receive care?