Abstract: The prevention and control of haze pollution is not only a strong support for the battle against blue skies, but a necessary requirement for high-quality economic development under the new normal.This paper investigated thespatiotemporal evolution of PM_2.5 and its drivers by using gravity model, spatial autocorrelation analysis and spatial econometric model based on remote sensing imagery inversiondata of the Yangtze River Economic Belt(YREB), China, between 2000 and 2018. The results showed that: (1) The PM_2.5 concentration in the YREB posed an inverted U-shaped trend, which first increased and then decreased, and maintained an interregional pattern of "upper reaches < middle reaches < lower reaches". The gravity of PM_2.5 concentration was located in the junction of Qianjiang, Jingzhou and Xiantao cities in Hubei province, and the gravity changed significantly. (2) The PM_2.5 concentration in the middle and lower reaches of the YREB was higher than that in the upper reaches, and the north bank of the Yangtze was higher than that in the south bank. (3) PM_2.5 pollution in the YREB had a significant positive spatial correlation. High-Highclustering was mainly distributed in the Chengdu-Chongqing region and Hubei, Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, while Low-Low clustering was stable in the upstream of western Sichuan and Yunnan-Guizhou regions, presenting a conspicuous spatial convergence feature. (4) The endogenous interaction of PM_2.5 was significant, where each 1% increased in the neighbouring PM_2.5 levels would cause that local to increase by at least 0.4%.Natural and anthropogenic factors directly and indirectly affected PM_2.5, among which meteorological factors mainly had a negative effect, while socio-economic factors chiefly had a positive effect.