The impact of regional environmental governance efficiency on residents' life satisfaction-an empirical analysis of panel data from 21 cities in Guangdong Province, China (2001-2023).
Jin H, Wu S, Zhang S • Frontiers in public health • 2026
Efficient environmental governance in Guangdong Province significantly enhances residents' life satisfaction by improving living conditions and supporting mental wellbeing, offering a replicable model for sustainable development in rapidly growing economies.
Key Findings
Results
Environmental governance efficiency shows a significant positive relationship with residents' life satisfaction across multiple model specifications.
Significance was found in models FE1, FE2, and FE4 at p < 0.001, and in FE3 at p < 0.01
Two-way fixed effects models were employed and validated by the Hausman test
Panel data from 21 cities in Guangdong Province over the period 2001–2023 were used
Life satisfaction was proxied by the ratio of consumption expenditure to disposable income
Methods
Environmental governance efficiency was measured using the super-efficiency Slack-Based Measure (SBM) model of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA).
The super-efficiency SBM model captures the psychological benefits of effective public administration by improving living conditions through sustainable environmental policies
This approach allows differentiation among efficient units, which standard DEA does not permit
The measure reflects how well environmental inputs are converted into improved environmental outcomes across 21 Guangdong cities
Results
Health insurance coverage, per capita GDP, fiscal self-sufficiency, and economic openness each significantly and positively enhance residents' life satisfaction.
These variables were included as control variables in the fixed-effects panel models
Their positive effects were observed through their association with increased consumption expenditure
The findings held across the full panel dataset spanning 2001–2023
Results
Industrial production and government scale show negative effects on residents' life satisfaction.
Higher industrial production was associated with lower life satisfaction, potentially reflecting pollution and environmental degradation effects
Larger government scale was negatively associated with life satisfaction, suggesting possible inefficiencies or crowding-out effects
These negative effects were identified within the same two-way fixed effects framework used for positive predictors
Results
Regional disparities in life satisfaction persist across the 21 cities of Guangdong Province.
The panel dataset covering 21 cities from 2001 to 2023 allowed detection of within- and between-city variation
Regional disparities remained even after accounting for environmental governance efficiency and other covariates
This suggests that governance efficiency improvements alone do not fully eliminate geographic inequalities in wellbeing
Discussion
Efficient environmental governance mitigates pollution and enhances urban livability, which the authors link to positive impacts on residents' mental health in a rapidly urbanizing context.
Guangdong Province is described as 'marked by rapid urbanization and economic dynamism'
The psychological and public administration lens frames environmental governance as a determinant of mental wellbeing
The authors argue the findings offer 'a replicable model for sustainable development in rapidly growing economies'
What This Means
This research suggests that how efficiently local governments manage environmental issues — things like controlling pollution and implementing sustainable policies — has a meaningful connection to how satisfied residents feel with their lives. Using data from 21 cities in Guangdong Province, China, collected over more than two decades (2001–2023), the researchers found that cities with better environmental governance tended to have residents who spent a higher proportion of their income on consumption, which the study used as a practical stand-in for life satisfaction and psychological wellbeing. The relationship was statistically robust across several different statistical models.
The study also found that factors like health insurance coverage, higher incomes per person, and economic openness were associated with greater life satisfaction, while larger government size and higher industrial production were linked to lower satisfaction. Importantly, regional gaps in wellbeing persisted even when accounting for all these factors, suggesting that some cities in Guangdong still lag behind others in ways that better environmental governance alone cannot fully address.
This research matters because it connects public administration and environmental policy to everyday psychological wellbeing in one of China's most economically dynamic regions. It suggests that investing in effective environmental governance — not just economic growth — may be an important lever for improving quality of life in fast-growing cities, and that this approach could potentially be applied in other rapidly urbanizing regions around the world.
Jin H, Wu S, Zhang S. (2026). The impact of regional environmental governance efficiency on residents' life satisfaction-an empirical analysis of panel data from 21 cities in Guangdong Province, China (2001-2023).. Frontiers in public health. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1697459