The urban-rural divide in China is an issue that is both important and unique, for it is not just a gap naturally formed during the country’s fast development, but also largely a man-made divide. The multiple implications of being “urban” and “rural” in China have resulted in urban-rural inequalities in various aspects, especially health. Changes in the socioeconomic system, demographic structure and welfare schemes in both urban and rural regions also constantly modify the urban-rural variation in population health. Given its importance and complexity, urban-rural health inequality in China in the new century has not been sufficiently and systematically studied. This PhD work is an attempt to fill the gap and focuses on the urban-rural health inequality in China since 2006, shortly after the establishment of the New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme. In my thesis, I evaluate the changing level of urban-rural health inequality with different measures, examine the regional contribution to health improvement at the national level, and identify the major social and demographic determinants in the urban and rural areas respectively. Both demographic and statistical methods were utilized to analyse data collected from the Disease Surveillance Points system, census, and longitudinal surveys. In this final seminar, I will present the key findings of my thesis and anticipated contributions.

Mengxue Chen is a PhD candidate in the School of Demography. Her current research interests include mortality, morbidity and health inequality. Her thesis studies urban-rural health inequality in China by using a range of demographic and statistical methods. Mengxue holds a Master’s degree in Population and Development from the London School of Economics, and two Bachelor’s degrees in Economics from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and Fudan University in China.

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