Rural-Urban Economic Disparities among China’s Elderly

Table 1: Comparison of Individual and Household Characteristics

The age disparity becomes more significant when we disaggregate the elderly into
three age groups - 60 to 69 (young), 70 to 79 (old) and more than 80 (oldest old) - as
shown in Table 2. The young age group accounts for 61.8% of urban households but only
59.3% of the rural households. The oldest old, on the other hand represent 8.4% of the
rural households but only 7.1% of the urban.

Table 2: Age distribution of Heads of Household

Rural households exhibit a much lower level of schooling than the urban
counterparts, with 1.2 years of schooling, compared to 4.14. Table 3 gives a more detailed
view of the level of education. About three fourths of the rural elderly have education
below the elementary level and only one percent have high school or higher education
level. The Urban elderly have much higher levels of schooling overall.

Table 3: Education Level of Heads of Household (%)

Rural Urban

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