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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Environmental Research Letters

Human mobility-associated ambient PM2.5 differences and inequality in China

  • Heming Bai1
  • Minghuai Wang2
  • Jing Wei3
  • Steve H L Yim4
  • Dasa Gu5
  • Yang Cao4
5 affiliations
  1. 1Nantong University
  2. 2Nanjing University
  3. 3Peking University
  4. 4Nanyang Technological University
  5. 5Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Open at sourcePDFDOICite

Abstract

Ambient PM 2.5 conditions can differ between origins and destinations during both long-term migration and short-term population mobility, but the magnitude and heterogeneity of these differences remain unclear. Here we quantify migration- and mobility-associated differences in ambient PM 2.5 concentrations in China using a nationally representative survey of ∼170 000 internal migrants and daily inter-city mobility flows derived from Baidu location-based services. We further examine socioeconomic associations using linear regression model. Overall, the survey-weighted mean origin–destination (OD) PM 2.5 difference was −3.29 μ g m ⁻³ , and 57.15% of migrants moved to destinations with lower PM 2.5 concentrations. Migration-associated PM 2.5 differences showed substantial heterogeneity by migration type, distance and household income, with moves to lower-PM 2.5 destinations more common among inter-provincial, longer-distance and higher-income migrants. Regression models further showed that moving to economically stronger destinations did not necessarily correspond to more favorable PM 2.5 differences. At the daily scale, mobility-associated OD PM 2.5 differences shifted markedly during the Spring Festival travel season and followed a regular weekly cycle during non-holiday periods. These findings highlight the importance of considering mobility patterns and their heterogeneity when characterizing population distributions across different ambient pollution environments.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{bai2026human,
  title = {{Human mobility-associated ambient PM2.5 differences and inequality in China}},
  author = {Heming Bai and Minghuai Wang and Jing Wei and Steve H L Yim and Dasa Gu and Yang Cao},
  journal = {Environmental Research Letters},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1088/1748-9326/aeb683},
  url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aeb683},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Human mobility-associated ambient PM2.5 differences and inequality in China
AU  - Heming Bai
AU  - Minghuai Wang
AU  - Jing Wei
AU  - Steve H L Yim
AU  - Dasa Gu
AU  - Yang Cao
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/28
JO  - Environmental Research Letters
DO  - 10.1088/1748-9326/aeb683
UR  - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aeb683
AB  - Ambient PM 2.5 conditions can differ between origins and destinations during both long-term migration and short-term population mobility, but the magnitude and heterogeneity of these differences remain unclear. Here we quantify migration- and mobility-associated differences in ambient PM 2.5 concentrations in China using a nationally representative survey of ∼170 000 internal migrants and daily inter-city mobility flows derived from Baidu location-based services. We further examine socioeconomic associations using linear regression model. Overall, the survey-weighted mean origin–destination (OD) PM 2.5 difference was −3.29 μ g m ⁻³ , and 57.15% of migrants moved to destinations with lower PM 2.5 concentrations. Migration-associated PM 2.5 differences showed substantial heterogeneity by migration type, distance and household income, with moves to lower-PM 2.5 destinations more common among inter-provincial, longer-distance and higher-income migrants. Regression models further showed that moving to economically stronger destinations did not necessarily correspond to more favorable PM 2.5 differences. At the daily scale, mobility-associated OD PM 2.5 differences shifted markedly during the Spring Festival travel season and followed a regular weekly cycle during non-holiday periods. These findings highlight the importance of considering mobility patterns and their heterogeneity when characterizing population distributions across different ambient pollution environments.
SN  - 1748-9326
ER  -