Objective   To describe the characteristics and influencing factors of community education for self-help in public emergency among migrants in the Yangtze River Delta and to provide references for improving relevant community education programs in the population.

  Methods  From the China Migrants Dynamic Survey conducted in 2017 across the country, we extracted the information on 24 181 migrants at ages of 18 – 59 years and living in the Yangtze River Delta at least one year and analyzed the data statistically with SPSS 19.0.

  Results   The proportion of the migrants receiving education on self-help in public emergency in communities was 30.6% and the proportion was significantly lower than the average (45.0%) reported by the migrants in other regions of China (χ² = 1695.135, P < 0.01). Compared with those in other regions, the migrants in the Yangtze River Delta were characterized by significantly higher ratios of cross-provincial migrating (χ² = 5541.645, P < 0.01), migrating from rural areas (χ² = 1461.138, P < 0.01), with high comprehensive education (χ² =77.441, P < 0.01) but lower ratios of with their the health records being established (χ² = 2008.472, P < 0.01) and insufficient involvement in community activities (χ² = 166.126, P < 0.01); while, the gender ratio of the migrants was not significantly different from that of migrants in other regions (χ² = 0.282, P > 0.01). The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that among the migrants in the Yangtze River Delta, those with cross-provincial migrating, without health records being established, being female, and with insufficient involvement in community activities were less likely to receive the education on self-help in public emergency in communities and the region of resettlement and education background were not significant factors influencing the acceptability of the education.

  Conclusion   Among the migrants in Yangtze River Delta, the proportion of receiving education on self-help in public emergency in communities was low and the influencing factors for the acceptability of the education were different from those among the migrants in other regions; the situation may result from differentiated information communication adopted by the providers of the education in the region.