Dramatic Decoupling Between Population and Construction Land in Rural China

The rural population in China is experiencing a rapid decline, yet rural construction land (RCL) continues to exhibit an upward trend. The vast number and widespread distribution of villages have hindered the establishment of a unified understanding of per capita RCL and its evolving characteristics in China. This study uses both per capita RCL and a decoupling index as indicators to investigate the decoupling relationship between RCL and the rural population in China and examines their variations across national, provincial, and prefectural levels, utilizing more precise data from national land surveys and censuses. The findings reveal that China’s per capita RCL displays considerable regional disparities, having increased by 53.0% from 2010 to 2020. More than 80% of prefecture-level cities show a strong negative decoupling relationship between RCL and the rural population. Additionally, the results demonstrate that per capita RCL is influenced by various factors, including terrain, latitude, and urbanization rates. Notably, the per capita income of rural residents shows no significant effect on the per capita RCL. These research findings can serve as a valuable reference for understanding the current status of per capita RCL in China and provide a reference for RCL planning in the developing world.