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Environmental pollution, income growth, and subjective well-being: regional and individual evidence from China

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Abstract

The study of subjective well-being (SWB) has attracted considerable attention from scholars globally. This has stimulated numerous studies that have identified regional and individual factors associated with SWB, but the extant research lacks multi-level studies that simultaneously examine their influence on SWB. Environmental pollution is one of such factors, but few studies have investigated its effect on SWB in China particularly. The current study addressed these problems by conducting hierarchical linear regressions to explore the effects of regional and individual factors on Chinese people’s SWB. Three major environmental pollutions (wastewater pollution, domestic waste pollution, and air pollution) were studied using data from the Chinese General Social Survey 2013 and China Statistical Yearbook 2014. The results indicated that wastewater pollution and domestic waste pollution had significant negative influence on SWB. Moreover, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita might contribute more to the improvement of SWB than income inequality. This implies that individuals’ SWB might be enhanced by improving absolute income, which is consistent with the micro-level proposition of the Easterlin paradox. Overall, these findings signal that effective management of environmental pollution is essential for promoting the SWB of the people in China.

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Funding

This study was funded by the National Key Programme of Research and Development, Ministry of Science and Technology (Grant number 2016YFC0503200), the National Social Science Foundation of China (Grant number 18BSH122) and Major Project (Key grant) of National Social Science Fund of China (Grant number 19ZDA149).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social and Behavioral Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China, 210023

    Xinya Yang & Liuna Geng

  2. Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Environmental Protection, Nanjing, China

    Kexin Zhou

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  1. Xinya Yang
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  2. Liuna Geng
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  3. Kexin Zhou
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Methodology, data collection, and analysis were performed by Xinya Yang. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Xinya Yang, Liuna Geng, and Kexin Zhou, and all authors commented on the previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Liuna Geng.

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Yang, X., Geng, L. & Zhou, K. Environmental pollution, income growth, and subjective well-being: regional and individual evidence from China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 34211–34222 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-09678-0

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