Objective  To examine general situation of household drinking water and toilets and analyze influencing factors of health among urban and rural residents in China for providing evidences to improve household sanitation and the residents′ health.

  Methods  We extracted the data on 11 063 residents aged 6 – 94 years in 5 148 households from the database of China Health and Nutrition Survey conducted in 15 provinces across China in 2015. Influences of household sanitation status on health of the residents were analyzed.

  Results  Of all the households surveyed, 17.50% had open air toilets and 0.74% had no toilet in home yard; 5.69% and 1.84% used surface water and well water as drinking water. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that influencing factors of four-week illness prevalence rate among the residents were age, living area (the urban or rural), education level, residential region, ethnicity and family size; the influencing factors of diarrhea incidence during four weeks were age, living area, residential region, gender, whether using filtered source water as drinking water, and the type of toilet used at home.

  Conclusion  Household sanitation needs to be improved for controlling adverse living condition and promoting health among residents in China.