Healthy Life Expectancy Among Elderly People in China: An Estimation Using Multistate Life Table Method

Guogui Huang , Macquarie University
Fei Guo, Macquarie University

Examination of healthy life expectancy from cognitive dimension has long been overlooked in ageing studies. Using the longitudinal database of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey during 2011-13, this study fills this gap by computing active healthy life expectancy, cognitive-impairment-free life expectancy and healthy life expectancy of China’s elderly population by using the multistate life table method. The study estimates that the three types of life expectancy were 19.39 years, 9.96 and 9.26 respectively at age 60 during the period of 2011-13. Significant differentials were identified across genders, urban-rural divide, regions, marital statuses, educational levels and health statuses at age 60. Results show that Chinese elderly people who are male, live in urban areas or the East Region have longer cognitive-impairment-free life expectancy, and that those who live with spouse, more educated and healthy at age 60 tend to have longer years in all three types of healthy life expectancy.

See paper

 Presented in Session 39. Cognitive Aging Research in Novel Contexts