Household fuel switching and the elderly's health: Evidence from rural China

Solid fuels for domestic purposes pose a threat to the elderly's health in global rural areas, while clean fuel switching may improve the situation. Using longitudinal data from adults aged 65 and over from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey, this study adopts panel data models to investigate the impact of household fuel switching from solid fuels to non-solid fuels on the elderly's health from multiple dimensions. The results are as follows: (1) fuel switching improves the elderly's self-rated health status with a marginal effect of 0.082 but has no significant impact on the elderly's abilities or independence in daily activities. The elderly switching fuels has a self-rated health score of 0.082 higher than those using solid fuels; (2) fuel switching enhances the educated elderly's self-rated health with a marginal effect of 0.121 but has no significant impact on the uneducated elderly; (3) fuel switching improves the elderly female's self-rated health with a marginal effect of 0.107 but does not affect the elderly male. Overall, fuel switching contributes to the elderly's self-rated health with an impact varying from group to group but has no impact on their abilities or independence in daily activities. Finally, this study gives some policy implications. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.