Middle East and North Africa’s demographic trends reveal together a growing ageing
population and an exceptional growth of the youth population. Increasing elderly population
leads to significant consequences for the cost and organization of health systems. The rise in
life expectancy has changed the arrangement of multigenerational families; relationships in
ageing families have become more unstable and less predictable. In this paper, we investigate
- in a gender and geographic perspective – differences in the socio-economic situation of the
elderly and the determinants of late-life living arrangements in Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia
starting from Labor Market Panel Surveys. Results are in line with both the different countries’
stages of the demographic transition and welfare state coverages. The family continues to be
the basis for support to older people, as in general in the Arab area. A relevant socio-political
group, calling for policy interventions, is represented by the elderly living alone.