Abstract
The spatial distribution of China’s rapid growth in population and economic development is uneven, and this imbalance leads to migration. However, the literature concerning migration in China has been primarily focused at the provincial scale and on eastern parts of the country. Relatively few studies have examined migration between counties and these rarely involve poor areas, and even more rarely involving out-migration areas. Using statistical data, this study analyzes the spatial correspondence between population distribution and economic development in Sichuan with an index, the Correspondence of Population and Economy (CPE). We also build a regression model of net-migration to analyze the driving forces of migration. The results include the following: (1) The distribution of population, population density, GDP, and GDP growth are all similar, and the high value areas are mainly concentrated in eastern Sichuan; (2) The number of counties that are balanced in CPE dropped from 30 to 12 from 2005 to 2012, but the counties did not overlap; (3) Most in-migrants come from Sichuan itself, and in-migration areas are primarily concentrated in cities; (4) In the regression model, the four economic factors have a positive influence on net-migration, but rural employment has a negative influence; (5) CPE has a weak negative correlation with net-migration.
Highlights
Large regional differences in natural conditions in China and the rapid development of its economy since the inception of the opening-up policy have made the imbalances in population distribution and economic development more pronounced
Within the five economic zones, the population is mainly concentrated in the Chengdu plain, and in the northeastern and southern economic zones, which are mostly covered by hills and plains and have good natural conditions
Disparities in economic levels will lead to migration
Summary
Large regional differences in natural conditions in China and the rapid development of its economy since the inception of the opening-up policy have made the imbalances in population distribution and economic development more pronounced. The correspondence between population distribution and economic development has attracted increasing attention. Changes in population distribution are often caused by economic factors and there is a temporal lag between them. A deviation in population distribution and economic development is inevitable, it is best if the deviation can be contained within a reasonable range. Research on correspondence between population distribution and economic development can aid in understanding of deviation in the establishment of related policies for coordinated regional development
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