Self-rated Health and Objective Health Status Among Rural-to-Urban Migrants in China: A Healthy Housing Perspective

Social scientists have grown increasingly aware of the impact of housing on health. An investigation into the rapidly urbanizing Chinese society, especially its growing population of rural-to-urban migrants, helps reveal the complex nature of the housing-health link. Using the newly emerging national data collected in 2017, this study utilizes the framework of healthy housing to examine the empirical link between housing and health outcomes among rural-to-urban migrants in today’s China. The results confirm that various aspects of housing are related to migrants’ health but not all findings align with conventional wisdom. Moving frequently, poor neighborhood hygiene, and the distance of one’s residence to health services have negative health effects, whereas larger living space per capita shows a positive health effect. Contrary to some existing literature, migrants who own a home in the city actually show poorer health than those who rent, while housing cost in general shows no significant relationship with health outcomes. However, housing cost, especially housing stress measured as housing expenditures exceeding 30 percent of household income, significantly depresses health among low-income migrants. Taken together, policies aiming to improve the stability, size, and neighborhood environment of rural migrants’ housing will help promote Chinese rural migrants’ health. Stress stemming from housing cost does not have a uniform impact on migrants’ health, but it is especially detrimental to the health of low-income migrants.