Spatio-temporal variations and socio-economic drivers of air pollution: Evidence from 332 Chinese prefecture-level cities

Air pollution is the result of a complex interaction between natural and anthropogenic environmental conditions. Recently, what's the mutual correlation between air pollutants, and how the monthly socio-economic indicators influence air pollution at the prefecture-level cities are still lack of discussion. Based on monthly air pollutants concentrations and socio-economic indicators from January 2015 to September 2020, this study systematically explored the spatial-temporal characteristics of China's air pollutants and its socio-economic drivers. Results showed that annual mean concentrations of CO, NO2, SO2, PM10 and PM2.5 fell substantially from 2015 to 2020, decreasing by 37%, 27%, 63%, 39% and 40%, respectively, whereas O3 changed slightly. Summertime O3 and NO2 pollution in North China Plain, and wintertime air pollution in China remained the seriously polluted. PMs concentrations were significantly positively correlated with SO2, CO and NO2 concentrations. The increases in GDP per capita aggravated NO2 and PMs pollution in southeast coastal areas in spring and winter. The air pollution in North China Plain were severer in spring and winter induced by the monthly retail sales of social consumer goods. In the Fenwei Plain, the growing electricity consumption per GDP contributed to O3 and PM10 mitigation in summer and autumn. It is worth noting that the improvement of socio-economic level and energy consumption level showed a trend of exacerbating CO, NO2, and O3 pollution from 2015 to 2020. The comprehensive monthly analysis provides theoretical support for fine-scale monitoring and feasible control strategy formulating for achieving China's sustainable development.