Health impacts of cooking fuel choice in rural China

This study investigated the impact of cooking fuel choice on the health of elderly people, as measured by activities of daily living, using micro survey data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study 2015. In contrast to previous studies, our focus on activities of daily living allows for a more comprehensive analysis of health outcomes than diagnoses or doctor visits. Propensity score matching and an endogenous switching regression model were used to address potential selection biases. We found a strong and positive effect of using non-solid cooking fuels on an individual's ability to cope with daily activities, with substantially greater effects on female and older respondents. Our results highlight the need to support energy transition in rural households to non-solid fuels for cooking. We also discuss potential policies to facilitate energy transition in rural China.