The green development theory proposed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has promoted the harmonious development of the economy, society, and environment in many countries, in particular, it has provided a good option for the coordinative development of economic growth, resource utilization, and ecological protection in rural areas of developing countries. For this reason, we used the OECD model to measure green development in arid, rural areas of China, and also subjective and objective weighting methods to measure the rural green development level of 78 county-level regions in Shaanxi province in 2018. At the same time, the least square error (LSE) method was used to determine the contribution rate of government support, environmental pressure, resource endowment, and quality of life, so as to determine the influencing factors of rural green development in Shaanxi. The results show that the levels of rural green development in Shaanxi province differed internally: the level of green development in the north was strong, moderate in the southwest and northwest, and weak in the center and south. The driving types of rural green development in Shaanxi province are divided into five types: Three Factors I, Three Factors II, Four Factors I, Four Factors II, and Five Factors; the influencing factors of rural green development are varied from county to county. In terms of different regions, different development approaches and countermeasures are proposed respectively. This research provides scientific guidance for local government to formulate green agricultural development policies and to overcome the development difficulties in rural areas.
Keywords: LSE model; MCDM methods; arid rural China; green development; spatial analysis.