The paper has two parts. In the first part we offer a definition of well-being which makes life expectancy an explicit variable. We recognize the importance of happiness as a significant aspect of any definition of well-being, but we side-step the issue of what determines its level or how to measure it, and concentrate instead on the consequences…

China's oldest old population is estimated to quadruple by 2050. Yet, poverty rate for the oldest old has been the highest among all age groups in China. This paper investigates the relationship between economic stress, quality of life, and mortality among the oldest-old in China. Both objective economic hardships and perceived economic strain are…

Despite clear evidence that Americans' economic standard of living has improved over the last half-century in terms of income, ownership of technology and housing among other indicators, there is scant evidence from non-economic quality-of-life (QOL) indicators of improved life quality to parallel these economic gains. The present article adds to…

Replicating a survey of 875 people 55 years old or more undertaken in September 1999 throughout the former Northern Interior Health Region (NIHR) of British Columbia, in September 2005 a sample of 656 people completed a 22-page questionnaire. The average age of the respondents was 68, with a range running from 55 to 96 years, and 64% were women.…

The aim of this investigation is to obtain some baseline self-reported data of the health status and overall quality of life of all residents of the Bella Coola Valley of British Columbia aged 17 years or older, and to measure the impact of a set of designated health determinants on their health and quality of life. In the period from August to…