Measurement and space-time evolution of health level under constraint of environmental pollution, China: 2002–2016

China’s massive energy consumption and low energy efficiency have caused severe environmental pollution and posed great threat to the national health level. The general occurrence of health complications caused by cumulative environmental pollution in China is on the rise. This paper attempts to shed light on the evolutionary trajectory of health level in China under the constraint of environmental pollution. Firstly, on the basis of environmental pressure and environmental elasticity, an evaluation system of environmental pollution is constructed, and China’s environmental pollution level is obtained with combination evaluation method. An evaluation system for measuring health level is proposed based on three dimensions of health, namely health foundation, health behavior and environment, and health protection. To avoid possible bias caused by neglecting environmental pollution in estimating health level and emphasize the health depletion by environmental pollution, this paper adopts pollution levels to correct health levels. Finally, an analysis is made concerning the temporal and spatial evolution characteristics of health level on the basis on the Theil index and spatial distribution map. The results reveal three facts: (1) Environmental pollution level in China is lowering with improvement in environmental quality; (2) The overall health level in China is rising, but the local health level is deteriorating; and (3) The spatial distribution of the health level is characterized by unbalance. From the perspective of difference, intra-regional difference is greater than inter-regional difference. The health level difference between the provinces in the same region is the main contribution to the overall difference. In terms of spatial distribution, the lower health level is mainly concentrated in the north, while the higher health level is found in the southern provinces and parts of the western provinces.