The shelf · Taiwan
Does Eventually Alone: Why Not Learn to Age Happily Alone First hold up?
Eventually Alone: Why Not Learn to Age Happily Alone First, by Liu Hsiu-chih (2023)
A Taiwanese dementia specialist's guide to living alone happily in later life.
The short answer
Broadly right, with newer figures, but a gap in life expectancy is not the same as years of widowhood.
The claims, checked
Taiwanese women outlive men by nearly seven years, so a wife may live alone for that long.
Holds with conditions In 2025 life expectancy was 77.93 for men and 84.75 for women, a gap of 6.82 years. Husbands are often older than their wives, so years of widowhood differ.
Evidence: Ministry of the Interior, Taiwan