Heath Expectancies among Chinese Older Adults: Evidence from China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study

Abstract

Although life expectancy in China is increasing, what proportions of life spend in a good health is unknown. This study aims to calculate different types of age-specific health expectancies for Chinese older adults who aged 50 and older by sex in 2011. Combining the information of life table from World Health Organization and 2011 baseline survey of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, we calculated health expectancies in terms of self-reported health, chronic disease, ADL, and disability using Sullivan’s method. We found that men and women have similar health expectancies for self-reported health and chronic disease. Women have longer health expectancies in terms of ADL and disability. However, women’s proportions of life spend with good health are generally lower than men. This study calls for a thorough investigation of the trend of China’s HLE for older adults so that health-care cost and pension provision schemes can be adjusted accordingly