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Spatial heterogeneity of human lifespan in relation to living environment and socio-economic polarization: a case study in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, China

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Abstract

The spatial heterogeneity and influence factors of public lifespan have been reported worldwide at the national level or typical longevous areas. However, few sub-national studies considering the living environment and socio-economic level together have been explored in the imbalanced developed region with a huge population base and deteriorated air quality. In this paper, spatial heterogeneity of lifespan integrating environment and socio-economic influence factors was investigated in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region of China using geographically weighted regression (GWR). Five indicators were constructed to determine the lifespan based on the three national censuses (1990–2010) in the BTH region. The results showed that the areas with higher CH (centenarians per 100,000 inhabitants) and centenarity index (CI) exhibited changing distribution in the BTH region, whereas those with lower CH and CI and extreme value of the ultra-octogenarian index (UOI) and LI (> 90/ > 65) maintained a relatively stable feature through time. But as lifespan indicators increase overall, the differences between the counties/districts widen. Furthermore, remarkable spatial heterogeneity was detected for the associations between the significant environmental and socio-economic variables and lifespan indicators. Although the natural geographic condition (altitude) still exhibited a negative influence on the longevity of the population, the socio-economic factors (GDPpc and income level) showed a more dominant influence on the extension of the elderly and longevity population. Correspondingly, the widened unbalance of population lifespan (UOI, LI, CH) was considered closely related to the socio-economic polarization, and the adverse effects of air pollution on life expectancy at birth (LEB) have also emerged. To further improve the overall lifespan level and narrow the lifespan gap in the BTH region, future work on cleaner air and more balanced development is still needed.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

UOI:

Ultra-octogenarian index

LI:

Longevity index, > 90/ > 65

CH:

Centenarians per 100,000 inhabitants

CI:

Centenarity index

LEB:

Life expectancy at birth

DEM:

Digital evaluation model or the altitude

AP:

Average annual precipitation

AT:

Average annual temperature

GDPpc :

Per capita GDP

NIRRpc :

Per capita net income of rural residents

WIURave :

Average wage income of urban residents

HEP%:

Proportion of higher educational population

AQI:

Air quality index

PM2.5:

Particulate matter with a diameter of < 2.5 µm

PM10:

Particulate matter with a diameter of < 10 µm

LISA:

Local indicators of spatial association

BTH:

Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region

GWR:

Geographically weighted regression

SMLR:

Stepwise multiple linear regression

VIF:

Variance inflation factors

AICc:

Akaike information criterion

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Acknowledgements

The authors express their gratitude for data support from the Hebei Provincial Bureau of Statistics and data calculation assistance from Dr. Xiaofeng Zhao.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2018YFC1800106) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Scholarship.

National Key Research and Development Program of China,2018YFC1800106,Mei Lei,Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Scholarship

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Changhe Wei, Mei Lei & Shaobin Wang

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Changhe Wei, Mei Lei & Shaobin Wang

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  1. Changhe Wei
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Contributions

Project administration: Mei Lei. Funding acquisition: Mei Lei. Conceptualization: Shaobin Wang. Methodology: Shaobin Wang. Formal analysis: Changhe Wei. Investigation: Changhe Wei. Data curation: Changhe Wei, Shaobin Wang. Writing—original draft: Changhe Wei. Visualization: Changhe Wei. Writing—review and editing: Mei Lei, Shaobin Wang. Supervision: Mei Lei, Shaobin Wang.

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Wei, C., Lei, M. & Wang, S. Spatial heterogeneity of human lifespan in relation to living environment and socio-economic polarization: a case study in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 40567–40584 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-18702-4

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