The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between health promoting behavior and quality of life to provide the basic data for health promoting intervention in order to improve quality of life in the elderly. The subjects of this study were 571 elderly person over the age of 65, living in Seoul, Korea, during the period from November, 1997 to January, 1998. The instrument for this study were the health promoting behavoir scale developed by Walker et al.(1987) and the quality of life scale by 노유자(1988). The instruments for this study were pretested for reliability and validity. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test, pearson correlation coefficient and ANOVA. 1. The average score of health promoting behavoir is 2.65(in 4 point scale) and the average score of quality of life is 3.44(in 5point scale). 2. There is a positive correlation between health promoting behavior and quality of life in the elderly(r=.48, p＜.001) 3. Health promoting behavior showed significant difference according to residential area, sex, age, marital status, educational level, religion, occupation in past, occupation in present, number of daughter, type of family, economic status, present illness, duration of illness. 4. The quality of life showed significant difference according to residential area, sex, marital status, educational level, religion, occupation in past, occupation in present, type of family, economic status, present illness, duration of illness. From the result of the study, recommendation is presented as follow : 1. It is suggested to research of factors influencing on health promoting behavior and quality of life in the elderly. 2. It is suggested to develop health promoting program for improving quality of life in the elderly.