Regional inequality and urban-rural difference of dietary water footprint in China

Food system is the primary consumer of water resources, and dietary water footprint (DWF) provides insights into exploring food-water nexus from a consumption perspective. Previous studies mostly examine Chinese urban and rural DWF nationwide, but fail to quantify regional inequalities and urban-rural differences at province level when considering China is a vast country. Here we explore provincial inequalities using Gini index and concentration index, and employ Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition method to identify drivers influencing urban-rural differences in DWF. Results show animal-based foods have higher DWF and regional inequalities, though plant-based foods consumption is larger. Greater regional inequalities of DWF across provinces are observed in rural area compared with urban area. Consumption level is a predominant factor driving urban-rural differences whichever food category is chosen. This study integrates methods originated from economics into evaluating regional and urban-rural disparities in DWF, and can be further applied to environmental inequality assessment.