Are Older Adults in China Living Longer Happy Years? A Cohort-Based Multistate Analysis, 2002–2018

Yunxiang Wan , MPIDR/LSHTM
Marwân-al-Qays Bousmah, Institut national d'études démographiques (Ined)
Marília Nepomuceno, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR)

As China's older population expands and longevity increases, a critical question emerges: are later-born cohorts living longer happy years than their predecessors? Using the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (2002–2018), we employed cohort-based multistate life tables to estimate partial-cohort happy life expectancy (PC-HapLE) across four age ranges (68–73, 74–79, 80–85, and 86–91), comparing cohorts born 10 years apart and stratified by gender, education, and urban-rural residence. We found that later-born cohorts experienced significant increases in both absolute happy years and their proportion of life spent happy through a "compression of unhappiness," while total life expectancy remained largely stable. However, these gains were substantially unequal. Urban residents achieved substantial improvements across all age ranges, whereas rural residents showed modest gains that were often statistically insignificant. This widening "happiness gap" was mirrored by education and gender, with literate individuals and women experiencing considerably larger improvements than their illiterate and male counterparts. While China's older adults are living longer happy years, this aggregate progress masks a deepening inequality in life quality, with the benefits of socioeconomic development disproportionately benefiting urban, educated, and female populations. Our findings suggest that policy priorities should shift from simply extending longevity to promoting more equitable gains in later-life well-being.

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 Presented in Session 33. Aging, Frailty and the Dynamics of Later-Life Health