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BMC Public Health
Published in: BMC Public Health 1/2015

Open Access 01-12-2015 | Research article

Urban-rural disparities in child nutrition-related health outcomes in China: The role of hukou policy

Authors: Hong Liu, John A. Rizzo, Hai Fang

Published in: BMC Public Health | Issue 1/2015

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Abstract

Background

Hukou is the household registration system in China that determines eligibility for various welfare benefits, such as health care, education, housing, and employment. The hukou system may lead to nutritional and health disparities in China. We aim at examining the role of the hukou system in affecting urban-rural disparities in child nutrition, and disentangling the institutional effect of hukou from the effect of urban/rural residence on child nutrition-related health outcomes.

Methods

This study uses data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey 1993–2009 with a sample of 9616 children under the age of 18. We compute height-for-age z-score and weight-for-age z-score for children. We use both descriptive statistics and multiple regression techniques to study the levels and significance of the association between child nutrition-related health outcomes and hukou type.

Results

Children with urban hukou have 0.25 (P < 0.01) higher height z-scores and 0.15 (P < 0.01) higher weight z-scores than children with rural hukou, and this difference by urban vs. rural hukou status is larger than the difference in height and weight (0.23 and 0.09, respectively) by urban vs. rural residence. Controlling for place of residence, children with urban hukou had 0.18 higher height z-scores and 0.17 (P < 0.01) higher weight z-scores than children with rural hukou.

Conclusions

The hukou system exacerbates urban-rural disparities in child nutrition-related health outcomes independent of the well-known disparity stemming from urban-rural residence. Fortunately, however, child health disparities due to hukou have been declining since 2000.
Footnotes
1
The ninth wave of the CHNS data was collected in 2011, but data on child height and weight have not been released yet when the present study was conducted. So we are not able to include 2011 wave of CHNS data.
 
2
The average height and weight for a 10-year-old boy are 137.8 centimeters and 31.2 kilograms according to the WHO growth chart.
 
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Metadata
Title
Urban-rural disparities in child nutrition-related health outcomes in China: The role of hukou policy
Authors
Hong Liu
John A. Rizzo
Hai Fang
Publication date
01-12-2015
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Public Health / Issue 1/2015
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2458
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-015-2517-4

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