Health Changes of the Elderly in China from 1987, 1992 to 2000, by Gender and Age

Xiaochun Qiao, Renmin University of China

Based on the data from three nationally representative cross-sectional aging surveys conducted by China Social Science Academy (CSSA) and China Research Center on Aging (CRCA) in 1987, 1992 and 2000, respectively, we calculated the perceived health expectancies of the Chinese elderly in each year, using Sullivan Method, and made a comparison among them. We found that, in generally, the morbidity of the elderly was shrunk from 1987 to 1992 and expanded from 1992 to 2000. The main reason for the perceived health of the elderly worsening is due to the health care system reform since 1990s. We also make the comparison between males and females, and found that the health status was worse for females than for males and the worsening is much severer for females than for males. We try to give further explanations on the difference of the health status between males and females by regression models.