Health rights awareness and its environmental and climate determinants in South Korea

Abstract Climate change threatens ecosystems, human life, and health rights, particularly among vulnerable groups. While previous studies have linked environmental and health rights, empirical research in South Korea remains limited. This study examines how perceptions of climate crisis severity, environmental rights awareness, and environmental damage experience influence health rights awareness, accounting for demographic and socio-economic factors. This study used data from the 2022 National Human Rights Awareness Survey, based on a cross-sectional sample of 16,148 adults in South Korea. Health rights awareness was the dependent variable, and independent variables included climate crisis perception, environmental rights awareness, and environmental damage experience. Ordinal and binary logistic regressions were conducted with socio-demographic controls. Ordinal logistic regression revealed that greater awareness of environmental rights was significantly associated with higher health rights awareness (p< .001). Individuals who perceived the climate crisis as less severe were more likely to report higher awareness of health rights (B = 0.490, p= .001). Those who had experienced environmental damage were more likely to feel that their health rights were not respected (B=-0.386, OR = 0.68, p< .001). Environmental rights awareness was associated with perceiving the climate crisis as less severe (B = 0.12, p= .016) and with a lower likelihood of having experienced environmental damage (OR = 0.52, p< .001). Among control variables, age and income level showed significant associations with health rights awareness in some models, while gender, education, and housing type showed no consistent effects. This study suggests that climate change deepens health inequalities through environmental perceptions and experiences. Strengthening public healthcare, improving housing, and expanding services like cooling centers and air quality alerts are essential to support vulnerable groups. Key messages • Health rights awareness increased with environmental rights awareness and perception of climate crisis severity, but decreased among those with environmental damage experience. • Findings highlight the need for integrated environmental and health strategies to address health inequalities exacerbated by climate change and socio-economic disparities.