Abstract
The poverty-stricken counties in China follow a spatial pattern of regional poverty. Examining the influential factors of this spatial pattern can provide an important reference that can guide China in its implementation of a poverty alleviation policy. By applying a geographical detector and using a sample of poverty-stricken counties in China, this study explores the spatial relationship of county distribution with spatial influential factors, including terrain relief, cultivated land quality, water resource abundance, road network density, and the locational index. These poverty-stricken counties are then classified, and the main factors that restrict their economic development are determined. The results highlight that the selected poverty-stricken counties suffer a severe condition in each of the spatial factors mentioned above. Most of these counties are classified under the location index, terrain relief, and road network density constraint types. Each of the aforementioned spatial influential factors has unique controlling mechanisms on the distribution of these poverty-stricken counties. Most of these counties are constrained by two or multiple spatial influential factors, except for some counties located in South and Central China, which are mainly constrained by a single spatial influential factor. Therefore, these single factor-constrained poverty-stricken counties warrant more attention when a developmental policy for poverty alleviation is to be implemented. The various aspects of poverty-stricken counties constrained by multiple factors must be comprehensively considered with a special focus on their development. The differentiated policies must be designed for these poverty-stricken counties on the basis of their spatial influential factors.
Highlights
The imbalanced development of the different regions in China has attracted much attention from geographic scholars [1,2,3]
These counties were selected as the research objects of this study (Table 1 and Figure 1a), and the relevant data were collected from the shuttle radar topography mission digital elevation model (SRTM DEM) (Figure 1b), the digital line graph (DLG) river network (Figure 1c), the national traffic map of 2016 (Figure 1d), and the 2017 China Statistical Yearbook [1,4,30,37,38]
If the q value of a poverty-stricken county is greater than the mean q value of all poverty-stricken counties within the same province, the spatial influential factors significantly influence the economic development of all poverty-stricken counties in the same province
Summary
The imbalanced development of the different regions in China has attracted much attention from geographic scholars [1,2,3]. With the accelerating industrialization and urbanization processes in China, this imbalanced development has led to the formation of many poverty-stricken counties and the gradual emergence of a unique spatial distribution pattern that shows an apparent spatial islanding effect of regional poverty [4,5]. This specific spatial distribution pattern is shaped by various influential factors with different driving mechanisms [6,7]. Given that China has implemented several poverty alleviation policies in recent years [8,9,10], the findings of this work can add value to strategic policy-making in China
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
