Factor Analysis of the Demand for Children Support of the Elders in Urban China

This paper aims at analyzing the Chinese urban elders' demand for old-age economic support as well as its influential factors, by using the data from the Survey of Urban and Rural Elderly Population in China 2006. The survey result reveals that most of the urban elders (38%) depend mainly on children support, the second most of the elders (33%) choose "joining the social pension".

The multi-factor analysis result shows elders demand for old-age economic support is greatly affected by "whether the elder have social pension". Besides, other main effects on the demand relate to their income level, children's income level, number of children, filial piety of the children, who makes financial decision of the family, and whether the children give money to their old parents. However, sex and martial status of the elders are not significant to explain their economic support demand in the Logistic regression model. According to the demographic trend of China, this paper believes the proportion of the urban elders who depend mainly on family support will continuously decrease.

【key words】ageing of population, economic support, regional factors