Has the Household Old-Age Burden Affected Farm Household Incomes? Evidence from a Survey of Chinese Farm Households

Income increase is an important way to achieve comprehensive human development and to escape from poverty, and the growing aging problem in rural China poses a challenge to farm household income increase. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the impact of China’s rural old-age burden on farm household income, this paper empirically examines the impact and mechanism of household old-age burden on farm household income based on the data from the 2023 micro-farm field survey of China’s Henan Province, utilizing linear regression modeling and mediation effect modeling, filling the research gaps in the related fields. The results of the study found that, firstly, family old-age burden has a significant impact on the income of farm households, and that the heavier the family old-age burden, the lower the total income of farm households. Secondly, from the results of the heterogeneity of the impact, the poorer the health condition, the greater the negative impact of family old-age burden on farm household income. Old-age burden has a greater impact on high-income farm households than on low-income farm households, and old-age burden has a significant impact on the income of part-time farm households, while the impact is not significant on purely farm and non-farm households. Thirdly, the heavier the household old-age burden, the more unfavorable it is to the non-farm employment of farm households, thus affecting the income capacity of farm households. Finally, corresponding countermeasures and recommendations are put forward in three areas, namely, the continuous improvement of the social old-age security system, the realization of the function of the social old-age mechanism as an old-age pocket for key special groups, and the improvement of the social flexible employment mechanism.