| Summary: | Exploring the health risks of diseases attributed to PM<sub>2.5</sub> and SO<sub>2</sub> exposure and analyzing the differences in their distribution over emissions can provide useful insights for decision-makers to reduce premature mortality due to PM<sub>2.5</sub> and SO<sub>2</sub> exposure. This study used exposure-response functions, health risk inequality curve (HRICU, based on Lorenz curve), and the health risk inequality coefficient (<i>HRICO</i>, based on Gini coefficient) to estimate population health risks of PM<sub>2.5</sub> and SO<sub>2</sub> exposure in China from 2013 to 2017 based on a full-coverage, high-precision PM<sub>2.5</sub> and SO<sub>2</sub> concentration and emission dataset. The inequality in the distribution of premature mortality was explored in terms of pollutant emissions. The results showed that (1) premature mortalities from cardiovascular disease (CVD) and respiratory disease (RD) due to PM<sub>2.5</sub> and SO<sub>2</sub> exposure decreased by 21% and 54%, respectively, from 2013 to 2017. (2) At a national scale, the <i>HRICO</i> value for the distribution of PM<sub>2.5</sub> and SO<sub>2</sub> health risks on emissions were lower than 0.10 and 0.20, respectively. (3) More than 20% of provinces had <i>HRICO</i> values above 0.1 for PM<sub>2.5</sub> or SO<sub>2</sub>. The provinces near the national borders generally had higher <i>HRICO</i> for PM<sub>2.5</sub>, while the province with the most severe inequity in the distribution of SO<sub>2</sub> health risks on emissions appeared in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, and Hainan Province.
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