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Elderly Health Inequality in China and its Determinants: A Geographical Perspective

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  • Chenjing Fan

    (School of Architecture, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
    College of Landscape Architecture, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China)

  • Wei Ouyang

    (School of Public Administration, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China)

  • Li Tian

    (School of Architecture, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China)

  • Yan Song

    (Department of City and Regional Planning, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3140, USA)

  • Wensheng Miao

    (China Research Center on Aging, Beijing 100054, China)

Abstract

Inter-regional health differences and apparent inequalities in China have recently received significant attention. By collecting health status data and individual socio-economic information from the 2015 fourth sampling survey of the elderly population in China (4th SSEP), this paper uses the geographical differentiation index to reveal the spatial differentiation of health inequality among Chinese provinces. We test the determinants of inequalities by multilevel regression models at the provincial and individual levels, and find three main conclusions: 1) There were significant health differences on an inter-provincial level. For example, provinces with a very good or good health rating formed a good health hot-spot region in the Yangtze River Delta, versus elderly people living in Gansu and Hainan provinces, who had a poor health status. 2) Nearly 2.4% of the health differences in the elderly population were caused by inter-provincial inequalities; access (or lack of access) to economic, medical and educational resources was the main reason for health inequalities. 3) At the individual level, inequalities in annual income served to deepen elderly health differences, and elderly living in less developed areas were more vulnerable to urban vs. rural-related health inequalities.

Suggested Citation

  • Chenjing Fan & Wei Ouyang & Li Tian & Yan Song & Wensheng Miao, 2019. "Elderly Health Inequality in China and its Determinants: A Geographical Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-18, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:16:p:2953-:d:258295
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    Cited by:

    1. Mengqi Yang & Mark W. Rosenberg & Jie Li, 2020. "Spatial Variability of Health Inequalities of Older People in China and Related Health Factors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-12, March.
    2. Jung A. Choi & Oksoo Kim, 2021. "Factors Influencing Unmet Healthcare Needs among Older Korean Women," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-9, June.

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