Do Rural-Urban Identities Affect Individuals’ Health? Evidence From China

We study the relationship between household registration status (Hukou) and the state of individuals’ health to find out whether inequality in health between urban and rural population exists in China. We have used the probit model to regress the state of health on household registration using the individual-level data of the 2018 CFPS survey. We find that inequality in health between urban and rural population does exist in China. Individuals with rural Hukou have a higher probability by 1.4% to be admitted to hospital than individuals with urban Hukou. While, individuals with rural Hukou tend to over-estimate the state of their health as the probability for them to assess themselves healthy is higher by 1.7% than individuals with urban Hukou. The findings suggest that policy makers should recognize the issue of rural-urban health inequalities and take measures, such as controlling pollution in rural areas and providing high quality routine health checks for rural population to deal with the problem.