本文旨在探討台灣高齡者之生活相對獨立能力。衡量指標之建立引用成功老化（successful ageing）與活躍老化（active ageing）之理論基礎，並以常態化標準Z分數（normalized standard Z scores）方法，從「身體健康」、「社會支持」、「心理健康」及「經濟安全」等四個面向，衡量高齡者之生活相對獨立能力。結果顯示，高齡者之平均獨立能力以65-74歲為佳，其次為75-84歲，最差者為85歲以上高齡者，證實高齡者之獨立能力隨著年齡增加，而急速遞減。從四分位判斷，台灣高齡者以經濟不獨立的問題最為嚴重，尤其是85歲以上年齡組。其次為社會支持不獨立，以75歲以上之年齡組為顯著。其結果顯示相關之社會政策應盡速健全高齡者晚年之經濟穩定；家庭與社會政策應該要多鼓勵高齡者從事社會參與、休閒活動，以維持身、心理及社會健康，進而提升高齡者晚年之生活幸福感。

The purpose of this study is to examine the level of relative life independence of elderly people. The construction of measurement indices is based on the theory of successful ageing and active ageing. Normalized standard Z scores are employed to measure the life independence of the elderly related to physical health, social support, psychological health, and economic security. The results show that the 65-74 age group has the highest average independence, the 75-84 age group has the second highest score on average independence, and the over-85 age group has the worse score on average independence. It implies that independence of the elderly decreases dramatically as age increases. It is recognized that the most serious problem for Taiwanese elderly, especially for the over-85 age group, is economic dependence. The second serious problem is social support dependence, especially for the over-75 age group. The results imply that social security policy should ensure the economic stability of the elderly in late life as soon as possible. Family and social policy should encourage the elderly to engage in social participation and leisure activity in order to maintain physical, psychological, and social health. In this way, the well-being of the elderly’s late life can be enhanced.