IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/streco/v75y2025icp9-19.html

Impact of household size and structure on carbon emissions in China

Author

Listed:
  • Yang, Kaitong
  • Wu, Jun
  • Li, Ling
  • Mi, Zhifu
  • Yang, Junai
  • Tang, Ling

Abstract

China’s household dynamics are shifting towards smaller household sizes and lower fertility rates, trends that significantly influence consumption patterns and carbon emissions. This study investigates the discrepancies in household consumption and carbon footprint among different household sizes and structures in China by utilizing an environmentally extended multiregional input‒output model and a China’s household consumption survey. The results reveal that the per capita household carbon footprint decreases with increasing household size. However, even within households of the same size, the per capita carbon footprint varies among different household structures, with households having fewer children typically generating lower emissions. We also found regional and urban‒rural disparities in the household carbon footprint, and these gaps narrow as household size expands. This paper underscores the importance of considering household size and structure when formulating policies aimed at mitigating climate change.

Suggested Citation

  • Yang, Kaitong & Wu, Jun & Li, Ling & Mi, Zhifu & Yang, Junai & Tang, Ling, 2025. "Impact of household size and structure on carbon emissions in China," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 9-19.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:streco:v:75:y:2025:i:c:p:9-19
    DOI: 10.1016/j.strueco.2025.05.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0954349X25000669
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.strueco.2025.05.002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ryoji Hasegawa & Shigemi Kagawa & Makiko Tsukui, 2015. "Carbon footprint analysis through constructing a multi-region input–output table: a case study of Japan," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 4(1), pages 1-20, December.
    2. Cabeza, Luisa F. & Rincón, Lídia & Vilariño, Virginia & Pérez, Gabriel & Castell, Albert, 2014. "Life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle energy analysis (LCEA) of buildings and the building sector: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 394-416.
    3. Markaki, M. & Belegri-Roboli, A. & Sarafidis, Υ. & Mirasgedis, S., 2017. "The carbon footprint of Greek households (1995–2012)," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 206-215.
    4. Zhifu Mi & Jiali Zheng & Jing Meng & Jiamin Ou & Klaus Hubacek & Zhu Liu & D’Maris Coffman & Nicholas Stern & Sai Liang & Yi-Ming Wei, 2020. "Economic development and converging household carbon footprints in China," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 3(7), pages 529-537, July.
    5. Tovar Reaños, Miguel A. & Wölfing, Nikolas M., 2018. "Household energy prices and inequality: Evidence from German microdata based on the EASI demand system," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 84-97.
    6. Ling Tang & Junai Yang & Jiali Zheng & Xinlu Sun & Lu Cheng & Kehan He & Ling Li & Jinkai Li & Wenjia Cai & Shouyang Wang & Paul Drummond & Zhifu Mi, 2024. "Assessing the impacts of fertility and retirement policies on China’s carbon emissions," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 14(12), pages 1261-1267, December.
    7. Zhang, Hongwu & Shi, Xunpeng & Wang, Keying & Xue, Jinjun & Song, Ligang & Sun, Yongping, 2020. "Intertemporal lifestyle changes and carbon emissions: Evidence from a China household survey," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    8. Yu, Shule & Zhang, Jun & Yan, Xueling, 2024. "Robots, gender economic opportunities and household adjustment: Evidence from China," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 57-67.
    9. Wang, Zhaohua & Liu, Wei, 2015. "Determinants of CO2 emissions from household daily travel in Beijing, China: Individual travel characteristic perspectives," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 292-299.
    10. Huang, Liqiao & Yoshida, Yoshikuni & Li, Yuan & Cheng, Nan & Xue, Jinjun & Long, Yin, 2024. "Sustainable lifestyle: Quantification and determining factors analysis of household carbon footprints in Japan," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    11. Heran Zheng & Yin Long & Richard Wood & Daniel Moran & Zengkai Zhang & Jing Meng & Kuishuang Feng & Edgar Hertwich & Dabo Guan, 2022. "Author Correction: Ageing society in developed countries challenges carbon mitigation," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 12(6), pages 593-593, June.
    12. Tamar Makov & Alon Shepon & Jonathan Krones & Clare Gupta & Marian Chertow, 2020. "Social and environmental analysis of food waste abatement via the peer-to-peer sharing economy," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-8, December.
    13. Parikh, Kirit S. & Parikh, Jyoti K., 2016. "Realizing potential savings of energy and emissions from efficient household appliances in India," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 102-111.
    14. Asiedu, Edward & Karimu, Amin & Iddrisu, Abdul Ganiyu, 2024. "Structural changes in African households: Female-headed households and Children's educational investments in an imperfect credit market in Africa," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 30-42.
    15. Tantiwatthanaphanich, Thanapan & Shao, Xuan & Huang, Liqiao & Yoshida, Yoshikuni & Long, Yin, 2022. "Evaluating carbon footprint embodied in Japanese food consumption based on global supply chain," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 56-65.
    16. Lee, Sungwon & Lee, Bumsoo, 2014. "The influence of urban form on GHG emissions in the U.S. household sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 534-549.
    17. Biying Yu & Yi-Ming Wei & Kei Gomi & Yuzuru Matsuoka, 2022. "Author Correction: Future scenarios for energy consumption and carbon emissions due to demographic transitions in Chinese households," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 7(6), pages 560-560, June.
    18. Dominik Wiedenhofer & Dabo Guan & Zhu Liu & Jing Meng & Ning Zhang & Yi-Ming Wei, 2017. "Unequal household carbon footprints in China," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 75-80, January.
    19. Diana Ivanova & Milena Büchs, 2020. "Household Sharing for Carbon and Energy Reductions: The Case of EU Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-28, April.
    20. Isaksen, Elisabeth T. & Narbel, Patrick A., 2017. "A carbon footprint proportional to expenditure - A case for Norway?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 152-165.
    21. Zhang, Yimeng & Wang, Feng & Zhang, Bing, 2023. "The impacts of household structure transitions on household carbon emissions in China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    22. Soltani, Mohammad & Rahmani, Omeid & Ghasimi, Dara S.M. & Ghaderpour, Yousef & Pour, Amin Beiranvand & Misnan, Siti Hajar & Ngah, Ibrahim, 2020. "Impact of household demographic characteristics on energy conservation and carbon dioxide emission: Case from Mahabad city, Iran," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    23. ZhongXiang Zhang & Yalei Cui & Zengkai Zhang, 2023. "Unequal age-based household carbon footprint in China," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(5), pages 577-592, May.
    24. Mi, Zhifu & Zhang, Yunkun & Guan, Dabo & Shan, Yuli & Liu, Zhu & Cong, Ronggang & Yuan, Xiao-Chen & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2016. "Consumption-based emission accounting for Chinese cities," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 1073-1081.
    25. Ying Zhang & Qianxiao Zhang, 2023. "Income Disparity, Consumption Patterns, and Trends of International Consumption Center City Construction, Based on a Test of China’s Consumer Market," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-16, February.
    26. Long, Yin & Yoshida, Yoshikuni & Fang, Kai & Zhang, Haoran & Dhondt, Maya, 2019. "City-level household carbon footprint from purchaser point of view by a modified input-output model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 236(C), pages 379-387.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wang, Xueyang & Liu, Wenling & Zhu, Yulin & Xiao, Yuedong & Lv, Yiqun, 2026. "The hidden carbon costs of aging: How household dependency burden shapes emissions in China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gao, Xue & Chen, Xuan & Liu, Lan-Cui, 2024. "Exploring the determinants of the evolution of urban and rural household carbon footprints inequality in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    2. Wang, Keying & Cui, Yongyan & Zhang, Hongwu & Shi, Xunpeng & Xue, Jinjun & Yuan, Zhao, 2022. "Household carbon footprints inequality in China: Drivers, components and dynamics," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    3. Huang, Liqiao & Yoshida, Yoshikuni & Li, Yuan & Cheng, Nan & Xue, Jinjun & Long, Yin, 2024. "Sustainable lifestyle: Quantification and determining factors analysis of household carbon footprints in Japan," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    4. Shi, Xunpeng & Wang, Keying & Cheong, Tsun Se & Zhang, Hongwu, 2020. "Prioritizing driving factors of household carbon emissions: An application of the LASSO model with survey data," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    5. Wu, Chun & Liu, Zhao & Tan-Soo, Jie-Sheng, 2026. "Mitigating carbon emissions in an aging society: The role of generational shifts in household carbon footprints," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    6. Chen, Zhenni & Zhang, Zengkai & Feng, Tong & Liu, Diyi, 2023. "What drives the temporal dynamics and spatial differences of urban and rural household emissions in China?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    7. Verma, Pramit & Kumari, Tanu & Raghubanshi, Akhilesh Singh, 2021. "Energy emissions, consumption and impact of urban households: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    8. An, Na & Huang, Chenyu & Shen, Yanting & Wang, Jinyu & Yu, Zhongqi & Fu, Jiayan & Liu, Xiao & Yao, Jiawei, 2024. "Efficient data-driven prediction of household carbon footprint in China with limited features," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    9. Zhang, Yimeng & Wang, Feng & Zhang, Bing, 2023. "The impacts of household structure transitions on household carbon emissions in China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    10. Lei, Mingyu & Ding, Qun & Cai, Wenjia & Wang, Can, 2022. "The exploration of joint carbon mitigation actions between demand- and supply-side for specific household consumption behaviors — A case study in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 324(C).
    11. Wang, Yafei & Wu, Siyang & Xu, Lixiao, 2025. "Global carbon emission implications of China’s demographic ageing," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 767-781.
    12. Wang, Xueyang & Liu, Wenling & Zhu, Yulin & Xiao, Yuedong & Lv, Yiqun, 2026. "The hidden carbon costs of aging: How household dependency burden shapes emissions in China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    13. Yuzhuo Huang & Xiang Li & Xiaoqin Guo, 2025. "Unequal Paths to Decarbonization in an Aging Society: A Multi-Scale Assessment of Japan’s Household Carbon Footprints," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-28, June.
    14. Huang, Liqiao & Long, Yin & Chen, Jundong & Yoshida, Yoshikuni, 2023. "Sustainable lifestyle: Urban household carbon footprint accounting and policy implications for lifestyle-based decarbonization," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    15. Dong, Kangyin & Zhao, Congyu & Nepal, Rabindra & Zander, Kerstin K., 2025. "Are natural disasters stumbling blocks to carbon inequality mitigation? A global perspective," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    16. Pottier, Antonin, 2022. "Expenditure elasticity and income elasticity of GHG emissions: A survey of literature on household carbon footprint," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    17. Lei, Mingyu & Cai, Wenjia & Liu, Wenling & Wang, Can, 2022. "The heterogeneity in energy consumption patterns and home appliance purchasing preferences across urban households in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).
    18. Zhao, Mengxue & Yuan, Zhihang & Chan, Hon S., 2023. "Housing wealth and household carbon emissions: The role of homeownership in China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 212(C).
    19. Sun, Shuyu & Tong, Kangkang, 2024. "Rural-urban inequality in energy use sufficiency and efficiency during a rapid urbanization period," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 364(C).
    20. Hoyong Jung, 2025. "Single-Person Household and Greenhouse Gas Emission: Evidence from South Korea," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 88(7), pages 1805-1830, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:streco:v:75:y:2025:i:c:p:9-19. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/525148 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.