Short Summary:
Evaluating the relationship between health and income at older ages is crucial for the design of equitable public policies for the elderly. Using 2016 Canadian survey data (adults aged between 50 and 70 in Ontario and Québec), we estimate the relationships between individual income, longevity, and dependency at older ages. We use both subjective and objective measures of the probability to survive to age 85, the probability to have activities of daily living (ADL) limitations, and the probability of entering a nursing home.
We confirm previous findings that there is a positive relationship between income and both the objective and subjective probabilities to survive to age 85. Less documented, we find a negative relationship between income and the objective probability to become dependent (either suffering from ADL limitations or entering a nursing home). And although income and the subjective probability to have ADL limitations are also negatively correlated, income and the subjective probability to enter a nursing home are positively related.
