Rural-Urban Economic Disparities among China’s Elderly

Both rural and urban elderly living in extended family type households are better off than
those living in a single-family unit (either alone or with a spouse). About two thirds of the
rural elderly live in households with zero or less than 100 yuan per year, and almost half of
the urban elderly live in households with zero or less than 200 yuan per month. In both
samples the highest incomes are present in three-generation type households, with half of
the rural elderly and almost two thirds of the urban elderly in the two highest income
groups.¹³ According to Lin (2002) intergenerational support tends to be the lowest in mid-
developed urban areas. He also suggests that the elderly-support system in China will
diverge from the one we find in western countries.

4.5. Income support government policies

Table 9 shows the average income received by rural and urban households and their
sources. The difference between the two is therefore even more striking when considering
that the figures for rural households are yearly figures whereas urban figures are monthly
(one could multiply the urban figures by 12 for better comparison). Why is the state
support so much higher for urban households than the rural ones?

(1) urban elderly predominantly have been employed before retirement, therefore
most of them enjoy pension system,

(2) urban elderly are more educated than rural elderly and thus are more able to be
employed in the labor market thus even after retirement they still have full or partial
income,

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According to Lin (2002) intergenerational support tends to be the lowest in mid-developed urban areas. He
also suggests that the elderly-support system in China will diverge from the one we find in western
countries.

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