Aim: To study the effect of socioeconomic status (SES) on the life expectancy (LE) and active life expectancy(ALE) among the elderly people in Beijing. Methods: The samples were collected from the people aged over 55 years old lived in urban(Xuanwu) and two rural areas(Daxing and Hairou) of Beijing. The base line survey was performed in 3 257 subjects in 1992, they were investigated with questionnaires at home by well-trained interviewers. The follow-up was carried out in 1994 and 1997, and their survival and health status were studied. The state of activity was defined according to whether they could perform activities of daily life (ADL). Education, income, occupation and ownership of household possessions were taken as the indexes of SES. The individuals were dichotomized to high or low status, and the high or low status of the indexes was classified according to the results of the baseline study. IMaCh software for multi-state life table method was used to determine the LE and ALE. Results: Both LE and ALE of the elderly people were lower in females than in males, but ALE/LE was higher in males. The LE of males with high SES was increased by 20% to 52% (prolonged 2.1 to 5.77 years) as compared with those with low SES, and LE of females was increased by 4%-25% (prolonged 0.6 to 4.3 years). The ALE in males was increased by 30% to 70% (prolonged 2.1 to 4.0 years), and ALE in females was increased by 5% to 73% (prolonged 0.6 to 5.6 years). Different indexes had influence of different degrees on the life-span. The income and household possession had the greatest relation with ALE/LE in males, and household possession had obvious effect in females. The difference between the high and low groups became greater along with the increasing age. Conclusion: Among the Beijing elderly people with higher SES can expect to live longer and spend more years in active state than those with lower SES. Widening of SES gap in active life occurrs as age increasing. Some gender difference in the association is observed.