Abstract:  

To study of the spatial relationship between population and economy in the Central Plains Economic Zone has a great decision-making significance to guide sustainable development and promote the rise of this region. Based on the data of resident population and GDP of each city and county (district) in the Central Plains Economic Zone from 2000 to 2015, spatial dynamic characteristics of population and economy in the Central Plains Economic Zone are analyzed by taking unbalanced index, geographical concentration and other methods from both overall and local views. Results show that: ①From a global perspective, the population and economic unbalanced index in the Central Plains Economic Zone gradually increased during the study period, indicating that the overall population size and economic development scale of this region were unevenly developed, and the internal gap of development kept growing; From a local view, the geographical concentration of population in the Central Plains Economic Zone shows a distribution of low in the middle east and high in the west, while the economic geographic concentration shows a distribution of high in the center and low around. And then, a clear understanding that the distribution of population and economy in the Central Plains Economic Zone tends to be agglomerate can be presented by applying the ESDA method, and the correlation between population and economic space is significant. Finally, on the basis of empirical analysis, policy suggestions and future research direction are proposed.