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Despite existing social policies, the level of poverty among older people remains significant in Switzerland and the United States, particularly in rural and mountain areas. Yet, the literature pays little attention to the experiences of poor older people in such areas. This study, which takes place in rural and mountainous areas of Switzerland and the United States, aims to contribute to a better understanding of this phenomenon.

Sunset at the Newfound Gap in the Great Smoky Mountains.

Poverty in Later Life in Rural Switzerland and United States: A Comparative Case Study

Content and objectives

If poverty is an economic and social status, it is also a lived situation, an experience. By starting from the point of view of the people concerned, our research approach has four objectives. 

First, we want to understand the forms that poverty takes in old age and the type of deprivation that it generates in such regions. 

Second, we want to capture the effects of certain factors on the experience of poverty in old age, including the advantages and disadvantages that people accumulate over the course of their lives, and their social statuses such as gender and ethnicity. 

Third, we want to explore the role that the social environment (family, neighbors, friends, private and public organizations) plays in this context. 

Finally, we want to capture the influence of the geographical environment on the experience of poverty in old age.

Scientific and social context

This study focuses on the experiences of older people who live in poverty. We postulate that the knowledge they have acquired through their can lead to a better understanding of poverty in old age in rural and mountainous regions, and to a better consideration of ways to improve the living conditions of these populations.

Funding: Swiss National Science Foundation

Duration: January 1, 2023 to June 30, 2026

Research team: 

Marion Repetti (HES-SO Valais Wallis)
Mélody Pralong (HES-SO Valais Wallis)
Rachel Wagner (HES-SO Valais Wallis)
Sarah Giles (Virginia Tech USA)

Research partners: 

Toni Calasanti (Virginia Tech USA)
Peter Streckeisen (Zurich University of Applied Sciences)

PhD thesis linked to the project: 

“Impacts of race and migration relations on the experience of poverty in later life”
Co-directors: Prof. Claudine Burton-Jeangros (UNIGE) and Prof. Marion Repetti (HESTS)