Urbanization increases ill-health in rural areas

The number of villagers who feel sick because of the worsening rural environment has increased 9 percentage points in Guangdong province this year, a survey reported.

"Now, many rural areas no longer have green mountains and clean water, and more than 51 percent of the villagers believe the environmental pollution in the province's rural areas has become serious or very serious," the survey said.

Liu Rongxin, the director of the survey department at the Canton Public Research Center, which conducted the survey, said, "As many as 53 percent of the villagers in Guangdong province believed their health had been threatened by the worsening condition of the air and the poor environment."