Temporal and Spatial Evolution of China's Human Development Index and Its Determinants: An Extended Study Based on Five New Development Concepts

Abstract

This paper innovatively expands China's human development index under the background of development concept in the new era, constructs the index system of China's human development index (CHDI) with four core dimensions of "life span, education, income and sustainable development" and measures the human development level of 31 provinces and the whole country from 1990 to 2017. Using the method of exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA), this paper studies the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of CHDI in 31 provinces from 1990 to 2017 and discusses the mechanism of CHDI in China. The results show that: ① CHDI in eastern China is obviously ahead of other regions and there is a big gap in human development among different regions. CHDI of 31 provinces had positive spatial correlation, showing significant spatial aggregation effect. ② In addition to its own influencing factors, the CHDI of a province is also affected by the CHDI of its "neighboring" provinces. ③ Urbanization rate, per capita financial expenditure on education and the number of health professionals are the three main positive driving factors of China's CHDI and the per capita carbon emission is the main reverse driving factor. This study provides policy suggestions for improving the level of human development in China and realizing regional balanced development.