Regional disparities in China's urbanisation An examination of trends 1982-2007

Abstract

This article examines the inter-provincial, inter-regional and intra-regional disparities of urbanisation in China. Data are collected from census publications, which are province-based and corrected for consistency over time. Three indicators - the coefficient of variation (CV), the Gini coefficient and the Theil index - are calculated for analysis. Findings reveal that the trajectory of regional disparities in urbanisation displays a trend that is different from that of regional economic disparity. The inter-provincial disparities in urbanisation narrowed in the study period due to the decline of intra-regional disparity in urbanisation. Since 2000, inter-regional disparity in urbanisation..