A study in China’s Zheijiang Province shows that people in China’s rural communities are more vulnerable to both hot and cold temperature extremes than people living in urban areas.
Extreme temperatures, both cold and hot, bring greater mortality risk to people living in China’s rural communities than in urban areas, according to a recent study published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. The disparity between urban and rural mortality risk was found across the entire population, but was greater for women than men, and for people over 65.
“These findings go against the general assumption that urban residents are at a higher risk due to the urban heat island effect, which raises temperatures in cities compared to surrounding areas,” says IIASA researcher Stefan Hochrainer-Stigler, a coauthor on the study which was led by 2016 Young Scientists Summer Program (YSSP) participant Kejia Hu in collaboration with other researchers in China and at IIASA.
“Risk is composed of three key elements – hazard, exposure and vulnerability,” says IIASA researcher Wei Liu, another study co-author.” While urban heat waves can mean a higher hazard level, urban populations often have less outdoor working time and better housing, perhaps with air conditioning, which reduces their exposure. They also have better access to public health support, which reduces vulnerability.
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