Income Disparities Of Old People And The Analysis Of Influencing Factors

China has entered the aging society since the21st century. With the increasing number of old people, aging process has quickened, which is now a hot point, attracting a lot of attentions from the whole society. Income is not only the economic foundation for supporting old people’s basic life, but also the material basis for achieving a sense of security during their decrepit process. It plays an irreplaceable role in meeting the demand of being supported in their aging period as well. But in real life, there are great income disparities between different groups among old people, which seriously affect the standard of living and quality of life of the elderly. This situation not only damages social justice, but also holds back the development of society and economy.This thesis uses Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS2010) data to analyze factors affecting income disparities of old people across the country and compares the urban and rural samples. It could be found through analysis that factors as gender, level of education and political affiliation have significant influences on income disparities. Among the old people, average income of male is higher than female; the increase of income is corresponding to the increase of educational level; average income of party members is significantly higher than the non-party members. Under the background of urban-rural split, the average income of non-agricultural elderly is higher than those live in agricultural household; Regional differences also result in significant disparity of income for old people, revenue of the elderly who is living in the eastern region is significantly higher than those who live in middle and western region. As for the career-related factors, the revenue of elderly who had non-agricultural work is significantly higher than those who had agricultural work and those unemployed; while in urban samples, compares to those who have worked in enterprises, social groups and private units, the elderly who worked in the party and government institutions enjoys significantly higher income. Social security is a significant factor for the elderly income, the income of old people who participate in the pension insurance and medical insurance is significantly higher than those who don’t.By comparing urban and rural samples, we have found that elderly income disparities between urban and rural residents are remarkable. The average income of urban elderly is approximately five times the income of rural elderly. Compared to urban area, income disparity due to gender differences in rural area is more significant; so does the influence of political affiliations.Therefore, in this thesis four points of suggestions were put up to narrow the elderly income disparities. First of all, raise the income level of low-income seniors, especially those elderly groups who will easily sink into poverty, such as those in venerable age, non-party members, with a low education level, living in rural areas, engaged in farm work, female. Secondly, efforts should be taken to narrow the gap between urban and rural areas, between eastern and mid-western areas; to promote economic development in rural and mid-western areas, and to develop rural economy with the help of urban economy as well as to promote mid-western economic level with the help of eastern area. Government should increase investment, financial support and subsidies in rural and mid-western areas. Thirdly, narrow the elderly income gap between agricultural workers and non-agricultural workers; enhance the revenue of aged who is engaged in agricultural work. In the urban area, regulate the labor market and improve the level of social pensions, and make efforts to narrow the elderly income gap between different trades and industries. Last but not least, extend the coverage of social security make a fair and equal salary standard, and make sure that social security will play an essential role in redistribution of social wealth. Enhance financial support for the old people, especially for those live in rural areas.