Table 1.

Characteristics of the study participants in urban areas

Variable	2008			2013			2018
	Obs	Mean/ percentage	SD	Obs	Mean/ percentage	SD	Obs	Mean/ percentage	SD
Female	815	51.84%		2666	51.83%		2898	51.32%
Age	1572	45.91	20.93	5144	47.38	20.97	5647	43.80	23.10
0–14 years	129	6.13	4.35	425	5.85	4.24	808	5.02	4.45
14–60 years	1000	40.38	12.99	3090	41.34	12.81	3161	39.71	12.18
60+ years	443	70	7.55	1629	69.66	7.52	1678	70.18	7.42
No of household members	598	2.62	1.03	1800	2.86	1.24	1860	3.04	1.35
Equivalent household expenditure (RMB)*	598	21 979.17	13 736.49	1800	25 125.56	16 384.83	1860	32 775.08	24 294.23
First quintile	118	9574.10	2231.37	360	11 426.1	2599.803	372	12 427.32	3366.51
Second quintile	121	14 881.62	1233.78	360	17 361.4	1465.791	372	20 565.18	1850.79
Third quintile	120	19 307.01	1305.50	360	22 552.58	1355.419	372	27 502.79	2121.26
Fourth quintile	120	24 749.88	2049.34	360	28 379.04	2136.814	372	35 914.46	3351.26
Fifth quintile	119	41 397.45	18 475.26	360	45 908.67	25 118.75	372	67 550.70	33 438.75
Health insurance
None	171	10.88%		151	2.94%		201	3.56%
Any	1401	89.12%		4993	97.06%		5446	96.44%

*All year 2008’s and 2013’s nominal prices have been adjusted to real prices in year 2018 by using China’s Consumer Price Index.

RMB, renminbi.