The Imbalanced Pattern of Population and Economy and Its Influencing Factors in the Wumeng Mountain Area

Based on the population and economic data of the Wumeng Mountain Area from 2000 to 2020, this study explored the imbalanced spatiotemporal patterns of population and economy in the area using methods such as the geographic concentration, gravity model, imbalance index, and inconsistency index. The study also analyzed the influencing factors using geodetectors and spatiotemporal geographically weighted regression models. The results show four key aspects of this phenomenon. (1) The spatial distributions of the population and economic geographic concentrations deviate from their ideal distributions. The population distribution shows a spatial pattern of being higher in the northeast and lower in the southwest, while the economic distribution shows a spatial pattern of being higher in the south and lower in the north. (2) The population and economic gravity centers have shifted toward the northeast and south relative to the geometric center of the mountain area, respectively, and the economic center has shifted more than the population center. (3) The degree of imbalance between the population and economic distributions is decreasing, but regional development disparities still exist. The region with inconsistent spatial distributions between population and economy remains stable, showing a "north high, south low" pattern, with an increase in the number of counties dominated by the economy and reductions in the numbers of counties in other categories. (4) Economic power, social consumption level, industrial structure, urban development level, government regulation capacity, and health care infrastructure are the main factors affecting the inconsistent distributions of population and economy in Wumeng Mountain Area, and the effects of these factors are reflected in the promotion of economic development.