Declining fertility in China has elevated issues about seniors support particularly when public support can be inadequate. a male adult child being strongly favored. However another 34% have an adult child living in the same immediate neighborhood and 14% in the same county; only 5% Freselestat have an adult child with none of them living in the same county. At the same time a large portion of the elderly 45 in our sample live alone or with only a spouse. In general women those from western provinces and those from rural areas are more likely to live with or close to their adult children than their corresponding counterparts but different types of intergenerational transfers play a supplementary role in the unequal distribution of MTG8 living plans. Among non-co-resident children those living close by visit their parents more frequently and have more communications by other means. In contrast children who live farther away are more likely to send financial and in-kind transfers and send larger amounts. Keywords: living arrangement co-residence proximity of children CHARLS 1 Introduction The population is usually aging rapidly in China. In 2000 people 60 and older accounted for 10% of the population rising to 13.3% in 2010 2010 and is expected to reach 30% in 2050 (United Nations 2002). Freselestat Unlike in developed countries where almost all the elderly have access to publicly provided social security the family has been the main source of support for Chinese elderly especially in rural areas where the majority of Chinese elderly reside. In recent decades however the number of children has declined rapidly as the total fertility rate has fallen from 6 at the end of the 1960s to under 2 today. In addition rural young people have relocated into metropolitan areas in good sized quantities as the best migration in globe history. These tendencies have raised queries about the dependability of families to supply support for older people in China. This concern is certainly echoed by empirical proof that presents that Chinese older are more and more living by itself or only using a partner. Palmer and Deng (2008) using the China Home Income Tasks (CHIPs) data gathered in 1988 1995 and 2002 present that people 60 and old specifically those in cities are a lot more more likely to live with their spouses than in intergenerational households using their kids. They conjecture that development is because of the increasing Freselestat option of pensions; nevertheless rapidly rising earnings and cost savings over this era plus improved wellness over younger delivery cohorts without doubt donate to this development aswell. Meng and Luo (2008) using the metropolitan test of CHIP also present that the small percentage of older living in a protracted family in urban China declined significantly over the study period. They also cite 1990s housing reform which improved housing availability and hence allowed elders who favored to live only to do so. Using populace census data of 1982 1990 and 2000 Zeng and Wang (2003) present a similar pattern and attribute it to huge fertility decrease and significant changes in social attitudes and population mobility. What do we infer about the welfare of the elderly from this pattern of living away from children? Benjamin Brandt and Rozelle (2000) find that seniors persons living only are worse off in terms of income than those living in an extended household and the welfare implication is definitely even stronger when we recognize that seniors in simple households also work more. Sun’s (2002) study on China’s contemporary old age support suggests that living away from children prevents the elderly from receiving help with their daily activities. Silverstein Cong and Li (2006) find for a Freselestat sample of rural Chinese seniors in Anhui province that parents who live with grandchildren either in three or skipped-generation households have better mental well-being than those who live by themselves or even with children but without grandchildren. A similar pattern of elderly living only has been noted in the United States where the proportion of elderly living individually improved markedly in the twentieth century (Costa 1998; McGarry and Schoeni 2000; Engelhardt and Gruber 2004). While the literature has mentioned that living only is definitely associated with poverty a higher level of major depression symptoms and more chronic diseases (Agree 1993; Saunders and Smeeding 1998; Victor et al. 2000; Kharicha et al. 2007; Wilson 2007; Greenfield and Russell 2011) the economic books has generally viewed this development as utility improving for older people because.