Abstract: As an important part of the floating population， classifying “the old floating people” is an important way to realize public governance. “The old floating people” are divided into four categories according to the two-dimension framework of “cognition-behaviour”， namely “complete identification type”， “continuing identification type”， “identification constraint type” and “identification failure type”. Applying to 2017 national floating population health and family planning dynamic monitoring survey data， the paper analyzes type difference of “the old floating people” and its influcencing factors. The research results show that the proportions of “complete identification type” and “continuing identification type” are relatively high， while those of “identification constraint type” and “identification failure type” are relatively low. “Continuing identification type” is mainly affected by family endowment. “Identification constraint type” and “identification failure type” are mainly affected by the joint impact of individual endowment and family endowment， and social endowment plays an important role in the four types of “the old floating people”. The transformation from “identification failure type” to “complete identification type” has two paths: internally driven and externally driven. Therefore， it is necessary to follow the strategy of differentiation in the governance of “the old floating people”.

Key words: the old floating people; identity; choice of residence