Research on the impact of economic development and environmental security on human well-being in typical cities on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Environmental security, economic development, and improved well-being are the core issues in high-quality development. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is relatively rich in resources, but its overall economic level is relatively low and cannot meet the basic requirements for improving human well-being. The coordinated development of “production, life, and ecology” needs to be addressed urgently. In this context, this study conducted an in-depth analysis of the impact of economic development and environmental security on human well-being in 17 prefecture-level cities on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. First, we selected 22 indicators to measure human well-being and used principal component analysis to synthesize each indicator into five dimensions: income and consumption (IAC), means of production (MOP), means of subsistence (MOS), resource acquisition ability (RAA), and physical health (IGH). Second, it analyzes the trend of economic development and environmental security indicators in 17 cities in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau from 2007 to 2018 and uses a dynamic panel model to analyze the impact of economic development and environmental security on human well-being. The results show that economic development promotes human well-being in the IAC, MOS, and IGH dimensions, whereas environmental security inhibits human well-being in the IAC, RAA, and IGH dimensions.