IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i16p7350-d1724472.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Comparative Analysis of PM 2.5 - and O 3 -Attributable Impacts in China: Changing Trends and Driving Factors

Author

Listed:
  • Tong Gao

    (School of Management, Qufu Normal University, Rizhao 276800, China)

Abstract

China’s divergent fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) and surface ozone (O 3 ) pollution trends pose critical threats to sustainable development. This study quantifies the spatiotemporal evolution of health burdens (premature deaths) and economic costs across 333 cities during 2015–2023, integrating the Global Exposure Mortality Model (for PM 2.5 ) and Log-linear Exposure-Response Model (for O 3 ) with income- and age-adjusted Value of Statistical Life. The results revealed an 11% decrease in PM 2.5 -attributable premature deaths, but this benefit was partially offset (60%) by an 87% increase in O 3 -related deaths. Furthermore, the per capita economic loss from O 3 exposure increased by 154%, far exceeding China’s 79% growth in per capita disposable income. Decomposition analysis revealed that while diverging exposure levels primarily drove differential PM 2.5 - and O 3 -related impacts, this disparity was significantly amplified by population aging. These findings underscore the need for air quality strategies to both sustain PM 2.5 reduction achievements and implement rigorous O 3 controls, while integrating pollution considerations into public health frameworks with special emphasis on protecting vulnerable populations.

Suggested Citation

  • Tong Gao, 2025. "Comparative Analysis of PM 2.5 - and O 3 -Attributable Impacts in China: Changing Trends and Driving Factors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-23, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:16:p:7350-:d:1724472
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/16/7350/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/16/7350/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zhiguang Qu & Xiaoying Wang & Fei Li & Yanan Li & Xiyao Chen & Min Chen, 2020. "PM 2.5 -Related Health Economic Benefits Evaluation Based on Air Improvement Action Plan in Wuhan City, Middle China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-12, January.
    2. Freeman, Richard & Liang, Wenquan & Song, Ran & Timmins, Christopher, 2019. "Willingness to pay for clean air in China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 188-216.
    3. Yang, Siyuan & Fang, Delin & Chen, Bin, 2019. "Human health impact and economic effect for PM2.5 exposure in typical cities," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 249(C), pages 316-325.
    4. Matthew J. Cooper & Randall V. Martin & Melanie S. Hammer & Pieternel F. Levelt & Pepijn Veefkind & Lok N. Lamsal & Nickolay A. Krotkov & Jeffrey R. Brook & Chris A. McLinden, 2022. "Global fine-scale changes in ambient NO2 during COVID-19 lockdowns," Nature, Nature, vol. 601(7893), pages 380-387, January.
    5. Yang Yang & Liwen Luo & Chao Song & Hao Yin & Jintao Yang, 2018. "Spatiotemporal Assessment of PM 2.5 -Related Economic Losses from Health Impacts during 2014–2016 in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-16, June.
    6. Xiao Lu & Xingpei Ye & Mi Zhou & Yuanhong Zhao & Hongjian Weng & Hao Kong & Ke Li & Meng Gao & Bo Zheng & Jintai Lin & Feng Zhou & Qiang Zhang & Dianming Wu & Lin Zhang & Yuanhang Zhang, 2021. "The underappreciated role of agricultural soil nitrogen oxide emissions in ozone pollution regulation in North China," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-9, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Qin Liao & Wangqiang Jin & Yan Tao & Jiansheng Qu & Yong Li & Yibo Niu, 2020. "Health and Economic Loss Assessment of PM 2.5 Pollution during 2015–2017 in Gansu Province, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-18, May.
    2. Sichen Wang & Xi Mu & Peng Jiang & Yanfeng Huo & Li Zhu & Zhiqiang Zhu & Yanlan Wu, 2022. "New Deep Learning Model to Estimate Ozone Concentrations Found Worrying Exposure Level over Eastern China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-15, June.
    3. Xiya Zhang & Haibo Hu, 2019. "Combining Data from Multiple Sources to Evaluate Spatial Variations in the Economic Costs of PM 2.5 -Related Health Conditions in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Region," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-17, October.
    4. Komeda, Kenji, 2021. "Environmental Factors and Internal Migration in India," Warwick-Monash Economics Student Papers 20, Warwick Monash Economics Student Papers.
    5. Xiang-Fei Ma & Ru Zhang & Yi-Fan Ruan, 2023. "How to Evaluate the Level of Green Development Based on Entropy Weight TOPSIS: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-15, January.
    6. Wenhao Xue & Jing Zhang & Xiaomin Hu & Zhe Yang & Jing Wei, 2022. "Hourly Seamless Surface O 3 Estimates by Integrating the Chemical Transport and Machine Learning Models in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-19, July.
    7. Clement Imbert & Marlon Seror & Yifan Zhang & Yanos Zylberberg, 2022. "Migrants and Firms: Evidence from China," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(6), pages 1885-1914, June.
    8. Zhu, Tianyun, 2025. "Estimating the implicit price elasticity of the demand for air quality: A hedonic approach," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    9. Zhong, Shen & Zhou, Zhicheng & Gao, Wei, 2025. "Impact of regional finance reform and innovation policies on green innovation in pilot cities: A quasi-natural experiment," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 888-911.
    10. Jonathan Colmer & John Voorheis, 2024. "Microdata and the Valuation of Natural Capital," NBER Chapters, in: Measuring and Accounting for Environmental Public Goods: A National Accounts Perspective, pages 105-119, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Giulio Mela & Pierpaolo Girardi, 2024. "Is Active Mobility Really a Sustainable Way of Travelling in Italian Cities? When and Where Injury Risk Offsets the Benefits of Riding or Walking," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-18, August.
    12. Franco, Sofia F. & Cutter, W. Bowman, 2022. "The determinants of non-residential real estate values with special reference to environmental local amenities," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    13. Yanyong Hu & Kun Chao & Zhujun Zhu & Jiaqi Yue & Xiaotong Qie & Meijia Wang, 2024. "A Study on a Health Impact Assessment and Healthcare Cost Calculation of Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Residents under PM 2.5 and O 3 Pollution," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-22, May.
    14. Pan, Siyu, 2023. "Health, air pollution, and location choice," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    15. Yao, Yao & Li, Xue & Smyth, Russell & Zhang, Lin, 2022. "Air pollution and political trust in local government: Evidence from China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    16. Wenhao Xue & Xinyao Li & Zhe Yang & Jing Wei, 2022. "Are House Prices Affected by PM 2.5 Pollution? Evidence from Beijing, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-17, July.
    17. Shenglong Liu & Penglong Zhang, 2022. "Foreign Direct Investment and Air Pollution in China: Evidence from the Global Financial Crisis," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 60(1), pages 30-61, March.
    18. Panle Jia Barwick & Shanjun Li & Liguo Lin & Eric Yongchen Zou, 2024. "From Fog to Smog: The Value of Pollution Information," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 114(5), pages 1338-1381, May.
    19. Chao Zhang & Mimi Xiong & Zongmin Lan & Chunyang Wang, 2023. "Leave or stay? Heterogeneous impacts of air quality on intercity migration in China," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 7(4), pages 1169-1190, December.
    20. Deying Zhang & Kaixu Bai & Yunyun Zhou & Runhe Shi & Hongyan Ren, 2019. "Estimating Ground-Level Concentrations of Multiple Air Pollutants and Their Health Impacts in the Huaihe River Basin in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-18, February.

    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:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:16:p:7350-:d:1724472. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.