Abstract: The Yangtze River Delta (YRD) has the industrial endowment to give full play to the kinetic energy of strategic emerging industries and high-tech industries, and has industrial, technological and market foundations for accelerating the formation of new productive forces. Relevant data of YRD cities were selected from 2016-2022, and the new productive forces of YRD cities were evaluated and analysed by CRITIC-Mutation Level Method-TOPSIS, Dagum Gini Coefficient and Obstacle Degree Model. The findings were as follows: (1) The average annual growth rate of new productive forces in the YRD region was 3.05%. The rate was ordered as Shanghai>Jiangsu> Zhejiang>Anhui, with Nanjing, Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou, Hangzhou and Hefei at the forefront of the region; (2) The Gini coefficient between provinces ranged from 0.14 to 0.18, which was at the absolute average level. There was a tendency of expanding for the contribution rate of intra-group differences and hyperintensity; (3) Among the system-level obstacle factors, human capital structure, material and intangible means of production had a greater influence on the new productive forces in the YRD as a whole and in each region. Based on the results of the study, relevant recommendations on intercity linkages and human capital structure were proposed to provide a basis for regional development.