Abstract:

Countries globally experience challenges of rural poverty. Eliminating absolute poverty and preventing poverty-returning is a guarantee for China to build an all-around well-off society. The Loess Plateau has the characteristics of a fragile ecological environment, deep poverty, and significant challenges in poverty alleviation. Therefore, research on identifying the poverty level and type in this region will help achieve long-term and stable poverty alleviation goals and provide theoretical and decision-making reference for poverty alleviation work in China’s rural regions after 2020. Taking the county-level administrative regions of the Loess Plateau as the study area, this study analyzes the spatial-temporal evolution characteristics of rural poverty in 2010 and 2015 using spatial autocorrelation and grouping analysis methods. The remote characteristics of poverty level and type is evaluated by building a location remoteness model. The results show that from 2010 to 2015, the rural poverty gap rate in the Loess Plateau is more severe than that of rural poverty incidence, and the types of rural poverty are predominantly double-low and low incidence and high gap rate. The higher incidence of rural poverty is concentrated in the gully region of the Loess Plateau, whereas the higher gap rate of rural poverty presents a discrete spatial pattern. The overall rural poverty is characterized by a gradual decline, with the proportion of the double-high type dropping significantly. The higher poverty incidence area gradually shrinks to the Liupan Mountain area, whereas the higher poverty gap rate areas form local hot spots in the Yanshan-Taihang Mountain area, with unstable spatial conditions. The concentrated contiguous destitute area is both the main gathering area for the rural poor and the concentrated area where rural poverty returns. Among them, the poverty-returning area of the poverty incidence is concentrated in the Ningxia part of the Liupan and Luliang Mountain areas, whereas the poverty-returning area of the poverty gap rate is concentrated in the Yanshan-Taihang Mountain area. The location remoteness of counties from their central cities positively correlates with the incidence of poverty, but there is no apparent correlation with the poverty gap rate. In the current urban-rural system of the Loess Plateau, counties extremely remote from their provincial capital city should consider the positive spillover effect with their neighboring prefecture-level cities and emphasize the strengthening of highway links with prefecture-level cities. Regarding poverty standards, this study uses the lowest living security data based on rural household registration to identify the poverty incidence and gap rate and further explore the remote characteristic of poverty level and types under different traffic modes and urban hierarchies. This study has significant strategic and practical significance for promoting rural revitalization and solving rural development.

Key words: rural poverty, spatial-temporal pattern, spatial autocorrelation, location remoteness, Loess Plateau