Objective To investigate the effects of individualism and collectivism on the self-reported health of military retired cadres. Methods The Chinese version of the European quality life-5 dimensions (EQ-5D), the individualism-collectivism scale, and the Memorial University of Newfoundland Scale of Happiness were used to survey 112 retired military cadres from military cadre sanatoria in Shanghai, Suzhou and so on. The data were analyzed by SPSS 22.0 software. Results A total of 112 questionnaires were sent out, and 71 valid questionnaires were collected, with an effective rate of 63.39%. The scores of individualism and collectivism of retired military cadres (n=71) were lower than those of college students (n=403), the difference was statistically significant (t=-4.81 and -7.95, both P<0.01). Correlation analysis results showed that there was no significant correlation between gender, age, education level, marital status, children's number, residence status and self-reported health status, subjective well-being, individualism and collectivism (all P>0.05); subjective well-being, individualism and self-reported health were positively correlated (r=0.44, P<0.01; r=0.29, P<0.05), collectivism and self-reported health were not significantly correlated (r=0.19, P>0.05), and individualism and collectivism were positively correlated (r=0.67, P<0.01). Hierarchical multiple regression showed that the inclusion of individualism and collectivism improved the model interpretation rate (ΔR²=0.08, F=3.41, P<0.05) after controlling subjective well-being. Individualism could predict health status (β=0.34, P<0.05), while collectivism could not (β=-0.09, P=0.55). Conclusion Individualistic cultural orientation is the main factor that affects the health of retired military cadres, while collectivist cultural orientation has no obvious effect.