Table 1:

Variable definition

Variable	Definition
Medical insurance	Medical insurance=0(without any medical insurance), medical insurance=1(the medical insurance for urban workers), medical insurance=2(the medical insurance for urban residents), medical insurance=3(new rural cooperative medical insurance)
Health status	Health status=1 (very poor), health status=2 (poor), health status=3 (general), health status=4 (good), health status=5 (very good)
Life satisfaction	Life satisfaction =1(very dissatisfied), life satisfaction =2(not very satisfied), life satisfaction =3(general), life satisfaction =4(satisfied), life satisfaction =5(very satisfied)
Gender	Gender=1(male), gender=2(female)
Age	Age
Type of registered permanent residence	Type of registered permanent residence=1(agriculture account), type of registered permanent residence=2(non-agriculture account), type of registered permanent residence=3(Unified residence)
Marital status	People with spouse=1, people without spouse(single, divorced, bereft of one’s spouse)=0
Education level	Education level =1 (Primary education or lower), education level =2 (junior high school degree), education level =3 (high school degree or equivalent), education level =4 (college degree or higher)
Nationality	Han population=1, other nations=0
Relative income	Relative income=1 (much lower), relative income=2 (a little lower), relative income=3 (almost), relative income=4 (a little well), relative income=5 (very well)
Number of chronic disease	The universal chronic diseases of elderly include hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, asthma, lung diseases and cancer
Smoker or non-smoker	Smoker=1, non-smoker=0
Drinker or non-drinker	Drinker=1, non-drinker=0
Number of leisure activities	The number of the leisure activities of elderly