Coordinated Evolution and Influencing Factors of Population and Economy in the Yangtze River Economic Belt

Yazhu Wang; Hui Zou; Xuejun Duan; Lingqing Wang

doi:10.3390/ijerph192114395

Coordinated Evolution and Influencing Factors of Population and Economy in the Yangtze River Economic Belt

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Nov 3;19(21):14395. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192114395.

Authors

Yazhu Wang¹, Hui Zou¹, Xuejun Duan¹, Lingqing Wang²

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Watershed Geographic Sciences, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China.
² Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.

Abstract

The degree of population-economy coupling and coordination is an important indicator of a region's balanced development. This study examines the evolution of the population-economy coupling coordination pattern in the Yangtze River Economic Belt spanning from 2000 to 2019. It draws from the economic growth stage and related theories, and employs methods such as geographic concentration, center of gravity analysis, and the coupling coordination model. Accordingly, the population and economy of the Yangtze River Economic Belt form a core-periphery, with a decreasing center toward the periphery, and the east higher than the west. The spatial coupling situation of the population-economic center of gravity yields an inverted U-shaped curve, where their center of gravity separates and then converges, and the difference in regional development expands and then shrinks. Moreover, the population center of gravity lags behind that of the economy. The population-economy coupling and coordination degree shows a decreasing trend after rising fluctuations. Further, the study finds that regional economic development, government role, and market-led capital agglomeration are significant drivers of the population-economy coupling and coordination, with the industrial structural influence being spatially heterogeneous.

Keywords: Yangtze River Economic Belt; coordinated evolution; economy; influencing factors; population.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

China
Cities
Economic Development*
Industry
Rivers*

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the National Key R&D Program of China, grant number 2018YFD1100101; the National Natural Science Foundation of China, grant number 42101318; and the Science and Technology Service Network Initiative of Chinese Academy of Sciences, grant number KFJ-STS-ZDTP-011.