BACKGROUND In advanced economies, economic factors have been found to be associated with many health outcomes, including health-related quality of life (HRQL), and people's health is affected more by income inequality than by absolute income. However, few studies have examined the association of income inequality and absolute income with HRQL in transitional economies using individual data. Thi...

Very little information is available about the incidence of coronary heart disease in India, or of factors considered responsible for it. In a previous paper, the incidence of atherosclerosis as judged by electrocardiogram, the fat intake, and serum cholesterol levels in 2 low-income groups (industrial and rural) in Delhi were investigated. These data in high-income groups in Delhi have now bee...

The present article has been prepared based on two field research studies undertaken to identify the vulnerable strata in rural areas of Iran’s Garmsar and Dasht-e Azadegan regions2. As will be demonstrated below, the findings of the two studies show that the development policies implemented during recent decades--policies emphasizing strategies of structural adjustment, liberalization, and pri...

China's current official official household survey has failed to effectively cover the rural-to-urban migrants, which overstates the income of urban residents and understates the income of rural residents, and then overstates the urban-rural income gap in China. Our survey shows that the urban household survey basically neither cover the migrant households (missing households), nor the migrant ...

Obesity and other chronic conditions linked with low levels of physical activity (PA) are associated with deprivation. One reason for this could be that it is more difficult for low-income groups to access recreational PA facilities such as swimming pools and sports centres than high-income groups. In this paper, we explore the distribution of access to PA facilities by car and bus across mainl...

This study was designed to investigate if the working memory profiles of children living in rural poverty are distinct from the working memory profiles of children living in urban poverty. Verbal and visuospatial working memory tasks were administered to sixth-grade students living in low-income rural, low-income urban, high-income rural, and high-income urban developmental contexts. Both low-i...

BACKGROUND Low-income, ethnic/racial minorities and rural populations are at increased risk for obesity and related chronic health conditions when compared to white, urban and higher-socio-economic status (SES) peers. Recent systematic reviews highlight the influence of the built environment on obesity, yet very few of these studies consider rural areas or populations. Utilizing a CBPR process,...

BACKGROUND Large-scale Tuberculosis (TB) control programmes in China have been hailed a success. Concerns remain, however, about whether the programme is reaching all sections of the population, particularly poorer groups within rural communities, and whether there are hidden costs. This study takes a household perspective to investigate receipt of appropriate care and affordability of services...

This paper examines the recent trends in regional income disparity and urban-rural income inequality in the Chinese economy. It finds that the income disparity between the eastern and western region had declined, but the urban-rural income inequality continued to rise in all four regions during the period under consideration. Moreover, the urban-rural income disparity increased more rapidly in ...

Following the global food crisis of the early 1970s, the World Bank has placed a priority on funding agriculture and rural development projects. These projects have been funded with a view to raising the productivity of low-income groups. Projects aimed at increasing the incomes of rural poor must clearly identify the target group and be designed so that they will benefit directly. Some of t...