Abstract
This study has been performed to analyze association between general housing status and demographic characteristics such as family extension period, total fertility within a family, male birth rates, and birth order among the elderly in Korea. In this study, 183 subjects aged late 60s to 70s were interviewed for their childbearing history under legal marriage and current housing status such as tenure, residence(urban vs rural), and household composition. In this study , average term from the first to the last birth is 11.88 years, and total number of live births is 4.51. The average rate of male firths among live births within a family is 0.532, which is close to data of Korean statistical office in 1995. There were some association of housing status and the fertility; those living in rented units have longer family extension period and rural elderly have higher rate of male children. in addition, there is a significant impact of birth order on tenure. Majority of the first-born subjects were home owners by virtue of bequeath eligibility, and the rate of home owners was 50% higher than the second-born group. Overall in this study, it is recommended that when planning elderly living facilities, service policies be differentiated by both housing & fertility characteristics.