A Study of the Factors Influencing the Residential Preferences of the Elderly in China

Abstract

The global aging problem has a serious impact on the sustainable development of society. China has become the country with the largest aging population in the world, 1.75 times that of the EU and 3.01 times that of the United States. Therefore, the question of how to develop elderly care services and institutions in China is critical. Based on data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), this paper details the residential preferences of the elderly, and uses a multinomial logistic regression model to analyze the influence of education level, health status, and income level on the residential preferences of the elderly in China. The results of the study are as follows: (1) From a spatial point of view, the residential preference of “living together” gradually increases from the northeast to the southwest. As for the choice of “nursing home”, northerners prefer to live in nursing homes more than southerners, especially in the northeast. (2) There are many personal factors that significantly affect housing preferences, such as education level, health status, income level, etc. (3) The development of socialized elderly care institutions should fully consider the preferences of the elderly. There are big differences in residential preferences in different regions and different cities, so the development of elderly care services should be adapted to local conditions.