The health effect of household cooking fuel choice in China: An urban-rural gap perspective

Household use of solid fuels is a major source of indoor air pollution and poses health risks to users. Using Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) data, this paper employs a Probit model to investigate the health effects of household cooking fuel choices. We also use the propensity score matching method to control for the self-selection problem of the research sample. The results show that the use of solid fuels for cooking significantly impairs residents’ health statuses, and the potential self-selection problem overestimates the health risks associated with the use of solid fuels. In particular, we further examine the urban-rural gap in household cooking fuel choices and its health consequences. By defining residents’ urban/rural identities based on their hukou statuses and residential areas, we find that residents with rural “hukou” and those living in rural areas are more dependent on solid fuels for cooking, and thus they bear higher health risks from the use of solid fuels. Our findings suggest that urban-rural energy inequality in the household use of solid fuels is one main source of exacerbating urban-rural health disparities in China and that energy transition has additional benefits in mitigating inequality.