Influence Of Socio-economic Factors On Life Expectancy

Over the30years of reform and opening up, China witnessed continuous development in economy and society. Meanwhile, medicial conditions in China improve and the average life expectancy has been rising in recent years. The sixth census data showed that the average life expectancy of China in2010reached74.83years, much higher than71.4years showed by the fifth census,3.43years longer during the past10years.In the past decade, there could be many factors that might affect the average life expectancy. The significant factors affecting the average life expectancy ten years ago and may not be the same nowadays. This paper selected52factors which may affect the average life expectancy in2000and2010. First, the correlation coefficient between these factors and the life expectancy of31provinces is analyzed. Second, the statistical software SPSS was used for stepwise regression and EVIEWS was used for testing and building models. Therefore, we could identify the optimal prediction models for life expectancy and the changes among the most significant factors that could affect the life expectancy. Finally, based on changes among factors affecting the life expectancy in these ten years and the question how to improve the life expectancy for the whole country, we proposed appropriate policy recommendations for three regions of our country as well as males and females of different regions.