Objective To evaluate the reliability and validity of SF-12 for elderly persons in countryside. Methods The stratified cluster sampling method was used to survey 789 elderly persons in countryside. Results The critical ratio of the extreme groups ranged from 3.012 to 10.060, the total correlation coefficient ranged from 0.105 to 0.742, the internal consistency coefficient ranged from 0.833 to 0.864, the amount of factor load ranged from 0.458 to 0.861, the overall internal consistency coefficient was 0.861, and the retest reliability was 0.814. Three factors with characteristic values greater than 1 were extracted and the cumulative contribution rate was 63.54%. The correlation coefficient of criterion validity was 0.715, the success rate of polymerization for 8 dimensions was 100%, and the discriminative power was 100%. Conclusion SF-12 has favorable reliability and validity and can be used to evaluate the quality of life for elderly persons in countryside.