Abstract
BackgroundTwo common consequences of rapid economic development in developing countries are the improvement of residents’ quality of life but also environmental destruction. This study focuses on the relationship between residents’ perceptions on the life quality and their perception of environmental crises in China. The purpose of this study is to answer why people in developing countries have relatively high tolerance for environmental pollution caused by rapid economic development.MethodsUsing ordered logistic regression models and the multi-level mixed effect ordinal regression model, and the data of the 2014 China Labour-force Dynamics Survey, 10,849 responses were analysed to evaluate public perceptions of living-environment crises. Specifically, perceptions relating to the following four living-environment crises were evaluated: (1) (un)employment; (2) public safety; (3) infectious disease; (4) pollution.ResultsWe found that respondents with higher levels of subjective well-being, social status, and sense of neighbourhood security expressed a lower level of concern for living-environment crises. The concern of urban residents was also significantly higher than that of rural residents for living-environment crisis. For rural respondents, neighbourhood population density was negatively correlated with the perception of employment, public safety, and infectious disease crises. For urban respondents, neighbourhood population density was positively correlated to the perception of public safety and pollution crises, and neighbourhood average income was positively correlated to the perception of infectious disease and pollution risks.ConclusionsRapid economic development has greatly improved people’s well-being, but it has also produced many environmental pollution problems. To a certain extent, the improvement of the well-being will alleviate people’s worries about environmental pollution caused by the development of economy.
Highlights
For developing countries, the relationships between economic development, the improvement of living standards, and environmental protection have always been an unbalanced triangle [1, 2]
Rural residents perceived employment, public safety, infectious disease, and pollution crises to be less of an issue than urban residents
Subjective well-being and subjective social status have the greatest impact on respondents’ perceptions of employment crisis, while personal sense of neighbourhood security has a greater impact on perceptions of pollution crisis and public safety crisis
Summary
The relationships between economic development, the improvement of living standards, and environmental protection have always been an unbalanced triangle [1, 2]. Li et al BMC Public Health (2021) 21:774 developing countries may result in a certain degree of environmental damage, economic prosperity greatly improves residents’ quality of life. Improvements to life quality and social welfare because of rapid economic development can, to some extent, increase the tolerance of governments and residents to environmental damage [5]. Two common consequences of rapid economic development in developing countries are the improvement of residents’ quality of life and environmental destruction. The purpose of this study is to answer why people in developing countries have relatively high tolerance for environmental pollution caused by rapid economic development
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