[Figure 4]
Regional urbanization levels also differed spatially and temporally
(Table S1, Fig 5). The northwest and southwest regions behaved the
lowest population urbanization level. All regions increased over time,
with the differences among them gradually decreasing (Fig 5a). Economic
urbanization level was the highest in the east and north, followed by
the central and south, and the lowest in the northwest (Fig 5b). In
terms of spatial urbanization, the central and eastern regions behaved
higher values. The regional values varied significantly in different
periods (Fig 5c). For instance, the spatial urbanization level in
northeast China was low in 2000~2005 and high in
2010~2020, while the opposite was observed in the
Northwest region, which reached its peak in 2000. Although there were
differences in the regional social urbanization level, the inter-annual
variations were not obvious (Fig 5d). In terms of social urbanization
values, the eastern region behaved the highest, all above 0.02, while
the northwestern region presented the lowest. In addition, the
comprehensive urbanization levels of the seven regions from high to low
were: east, north, central, south, northeast, southwest, and northwest.
Among them, the east and southwest increased dramatically, while the
northeast decreased evidently (Fig 5e).