Assessment on Social and Economic Development in the Underdeveloped Regions in China: A Case Study in the Lanzhou-Xining Town-Compact Region

Abstract

In this paper, the present situation of social and economic development in the Lanzhou-Xining town-compact region in the underdeveloped Gansu and Qinghai provinces in China is assessed by selecting 22 indexes related to the social and economic development and using the multivariable statistical factor analysis, breakpoint model, variance analysis, etc. The followings are the results. First, all the counties have the low social and economic development levels. Second, the industry has the position deficiency of oriented economic development of county-level. Third, it is the extremely unbalanced social and economic development level among different counties and different industries within each county. Fourth, it is a decrease of social and economic development levels of counties from the central cities towards the peripheral regions in a hierarchical structure. Fifth, there are high social and economic development levels for these counties along the main traffic lines. Sixth, it is high correlation between social and economic development levels and education development levels. In general, the situation of regional social and economic development presents the "pointaxis" economic growth mode. For the regional development in the future, it is suggested to organize the social and economic activities with the "point-axis system" mode and strengthen the diffusion effect of the central cities. Furthermore, with the supports from state of scheme, policy, fund to raise the regional socio-economic development and reduce the difference of the per capita living standard and the basic public services from the relatively developed area.