Abstract: Surface ozone (O₃) pollution in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) region is becoming increasingly severe, which is not beneficial to the integrated regional O₃ prevention and prevention. Based on the trend analysis, hotspot analysis, spatial clustering and spatio-temporal geographically weighted regression model (GTWR), we investigated the complex nonlinear relationships between the spatiotemporal distribution, evolution patterns and drivers of O₃ concentrations in the YREB region from 2013 to 2020.The results show that: (1) The annual average O₃ concentration in the YREB is over 100 μg/m3, with a significant increase trend and an average increase rate of 2.88 μg/m³/year (p<0.05); Spatially, the average O₃ concentration shows a distribution pattern of high in the northeast and poor in the west. (2) The hot spot regions of O₃ concentration variations rate were distributed in Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Hunan regions; the cold spot regions were distributed in eastern Sichuan, eastern Chongqing, western Hubei and Hunan and eastern Guizhou. (3) The proportion of secondary industry in GDP was the dominant socioeconomic driver of O₃ concentration in the YREB, with a regression coefficient of 0.328. Precipitation was the primary meteorological driver of O₃ concentration, followed by temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, mean visibility and pressure; O₃ concentration was significantly positively associated with temperature and negatively correlated with precipitation, relative humidity, wind speed, mean visibility and barometric pressure. This investigation could provide a benchmark for the prevention and control of air pollution in the YREB.