Spatial Analysis of Social Vulnerability to Environmental Risks: A Study for China Prefecture Regions between 2000 and 2010

Xueting Li , Asian Demography Research Institute

The recently observed increasing environmental risks have had serious effects on the livelihoods and the well-being of people worldwide in both developed and developing countries, including China. While the level of risks may change across regions, people in the same area tend to be differentially vulnerable according to their age, gender, level of education, occupation, and other social and economic characteristics. China is marked by important regional differences resulting from socioeconomic and geographic inequality. Given the spatial heterogeneity of social vulnerability in China, the goal of this paper is to evaluate the spatial patterns of social vulnerability in Chinese prefecture regions between 2000 and 2010. The contribution will be to study the spatial pattern and the dominant contributors of social vulnerability in China at prefectural-level over the decade, taking into consideration demographic characteristics, education, economic status, occupations, infrastructure dependence and development, as well as using SPEI to examine the relations and impacts of changing SVI.

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 Presented in Session P3. Poster Session Migration, Economics, Environment, Methods, History and Policy