Determinants of Livelihood Diversification Strategies in Rural China: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to assess the determinants of livelihood diversification strategies in different regions of rural China. Descriptive statistics, inferential statistics and MNL model are employed to analyze the data, which are obtained from randomly selected 425 households in each western and eastern China. The results indicate that the majority of households diversified their livelihoods into off-farm and non-farm activities. However, we also find several different factors that determine farmer’s choice of livelihood strategies at different significance levels in the two study areas. Therefore, development stakeholders should take different ways to expand diversification for the improvement of household income.