Interregional differentiation and analysis of spatial inequality governance performance in China

The People’s Republic of China exhibits significant interregional differentiation across various socio-economic development indicators, including population, income level, education, and others. Researching the potential for managing spatial inequality within the framework of state regional policy necessitates the development of an approach for a comprehensive assessment of provincial socio-economic development. This approach should account for the state’s capacity to influence specific development indicators and include an analysis of the interregional disparities in the resulting evaluations over time. The aim of the work is to provide a quantitative assessment of regional policy performance across the provinces of the PRC in the context of reducing spatial inequality. The methodology is based on constructing a composite index of regional policy performance for 31 PRC provinces for the periods 2016–2019 and 2020–2023, incorporating 55 socio-economic development indicators. The indicators are grouped into eight key dimensions: Security; Healthcare; Education, Science and Innovation; Social Support; Sports and Culture; Transport; Ecology; Economic Development. The empirical findings demonstrated that eastern and central Chinese provinces exhibit higher composite index values, reflecting stronger policy performance. The Gini coefficient for the composite index decreased to 0.4 compared to 0.426 in the 2016–2019 period, indicating a reduction in spatial inequality in China as a result of implemented regional policy measures. The leaders were most distinctly separated from the main group of provinces in the dimensions of Ecology; Education, Science and Innovation; Sports and Culture; and Healthcare. The dimensions of Social Support and Transport displayed a more balanced distribution of outcomes across the national territory. During the pandemic period, disparities in Economic Development; Sports and Culture; and Healthcare decreased significantly. The analysis reveals that the regional policy performance index tends to be higher in economically advanced provinces of China and lower in larger provinces. Involvement in national-level spatial integration projects also emerges as a critical success factor in improving policy performance. The obtained results contribute to a deeper understanding of existing differentiation in regional development in China and provide valuable insights for refining the strategic design of future regional policy, as well as for developing and implementing measures to balance the level of socio-economic development across its provinces.