Why are so many elderly widows living alone?

It used to be the case that most elderly people, once widowed, would live with one of their children. Very few do so now, and one can have several conjecture for the reasons thereof: societal changes, government sponsored care for the elderly, better retirement pensions, emancipation of the children or the elderly, etc.Carlos Bethencourt and José-Víctor Ríos-Rull find that the increases in