Digital village development improves household dietary diversity: evidence from rural China

Abstract Digital village development (DVD) has profoundly transformed the production and living patterns of rural residents; however, its impact on food access remains underexplored. Drawing on panel data from the 2021–2022 China Land Economic Survey, this study first measures village-level DVD across three dimensions, including digital infrastructure, rural economic digitization, and rural life digitization, and subsequently employs the fixed effects model to examine the relationship between DVD and dietary diversity in rural households. Results indicate that DVD can significantly enhance the household dietary diversity score (HDDS), particularly in the consumption of legumes, vegetables, fruits, eggs, milk, fish, and aquatic products. Further analysis suggests that this positive effect is primarily due to improved food availability and affordability. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that among the three dimensions of DVD, rural life digitization has the strongest positive impact on HDDS, compared to digital infrastructure and rural economic digitization. Moreover, families living further away from town centers exhibit a larger positive effect of DVD on HDDS. DVD significantly improves HDDS for medium- and high-income households but has no significant effect on low-income ones. The effect of DVD varies by region, with its significant positive impact on HDDS being observed only in central Jiangsu Province. The findings show that DVD provides greater flexibility in dietary choices for rural residents. However, achieving equity across different groups is essential for advancing this process.