Energy poverty and solid fuels use in rural China: Analysis based on national population census

There about 490 million rural residents in China use solid fuels for cooking. Based on national population census data, this research evaluates the current situation and long-term trend of solid fuel use for cooking in rural China. Firstly, over three-fourths of all rural households depend on solid fuels to meet their cooking demand, while in urban area and township this figure is as low as 8% and 36% respectively. Secondly, solid fuel use was linked closely to rural household income, i.e., those regions with low per capita household income use more solid fuel. Furthermore, the proportion of rural households using solid fuel declined 17 percentage points in 2000-2010, albeit with some significant regional differences. Finally, the proportion of rural residents using clean fuels remained low, and the proportion using gas remained nearly constant over last 10 years in many provinces.