An empirical study of the well-being of older individuals in China, Japan, and Korea

Abstract In this paper we present new empirical findings on the determinants of well-being of 54–75 year old individuals in China, Japan, and Korea. Using the harmonized Health and Retirement Surveys (HRS) that are designed to be similar to the Rand HRS, namely CHARLS in China, JSTAR in Japan and KLoSA in Korea, we run country- and gender-specific panel regressions using all available waves measures of subjective well-being (SWB) are associated with various economic, social, and demographic characteristics. Consistent with previous findings that highlight the role of education, health, employment status and social interactions in single wave studies, we find that these common factors continue to be important across countries and over time. In addition, we find that older Korean individuals in more recent waves have lower SWB than those in the first wave (2006). Finally, we find that there remain important differences across countries about the role of factors such as housing wealth, relative income and sources of life satisfaction, suggesting further country-specific research into the determinants of well-being.