Resource information
This paper shows that support from the
family continues to be an important source of support for
the rural elderly, particularly the rural elderly over 70
years of age. Decline in likelihood of co-residence with, or
in close proximity to, adult children raises the possibility
that China's rural elderly will receive less support in
the forms of both income and in-kind instrumental care.
Although descriptive evidence on net financial transfers
suggests that the elderly with migrant children will receive
similar levels of financial transfers as those without
migrant children, the predicted variance associated with
these transfers implies a higher risk that elderly with
migrant children may fall into poverty. Reducing the risk of
low incomes among the elderly is one important motive for
new rural pension initiatives supported by China's
government, which are scheduled to be expanded to cover all
rural counties by the end of the 12th Five Year Plan in 2016.
