The study looked at how much natural resources the people in Henan Province, China used in 2003 compared to what the environment could provide. They found that people in Henan each used 1.7125 hectares of land to support their lifestyles, but the area could only sustain 0.4355 hectares for those same activities. This means there was a big gap between what people used and what the environment could support, leading to a deficit of 1.277 hectares per person. The study also showed that for every unit of money made (GDP), 2.35 hectares of land were used. Overall, the researchers believe that the amount of resources being used in Henan was more than the area could handle, posing a problem for the future.