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Center-of-gravity shift and inequality of human water use in China over the last half century

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Abstract

Understanding the spatial dynamics and inequality of human water use is essential for achieving sustainable water management. Although previous studies have examined the spatial evolution of regional water use, comprehensive assessments that couple sectoral decomposition with long-term (> 50 years) national-scale dynamics remain limited. To address this gap, we compiled multi-sectoral water use data from 1970 to 2020 and analyzed spatial trends and inequalities in China’s water use using the center-of-gravity approach and Gini coefficients. Our results reveal distinct directional shifts among sectors: irrigation and industrial water use moved northeastward and southwestward, respectively, while total water use exhibited minimal spatial displacement. Water-use inequality declined from high to moderate levels before 2000 and has since stabilized. Irrigation water use dominated both the spatial redistribution and inequality of total water use, driven primarily by changes in irrigated area and industrial scale. Inter-provincial disparities accounted for the largest share of overall water-use inequality. These findings offer new insights into the spatial evolution of China’s water use and provide an empirical basis for promoting more equitable and sustainable water allocation policies.

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Data availability

Water use data from 2000 to 2020 is publicly available from the Water Resources Departments of the 31 provinces in China (Supplementary Table S1), while data prior to 2000 can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.11545176.v1. The code used in this study is available at https://github.com/HydroRS/GravityMove.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Prof. Zhou Feng for sharing his valuable data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Cryosphere Desert Scientific Data Center, Lanzhou, 730099, China

    Yanbo Zhao & Jixiang Jia

  2. Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Gansu, 730000, China

    Yanbo Zhao

  3. College of Resources and Environment, Chengdu University of Information Technology, Chengdu, 610225, China

    Qimin Ma

Authors

  1. Yanbo Zhao
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  2. Qimin Ma
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  3. Jixiang Jia
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Contributions

Y.Z. designed the study and wrote the manuscript. Q. M. and J.J. contributed to data collection and analysis. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to
Yanbo Zhao.

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Zhao, Y., Ma, Q. & Jia, J. Center-of-gravity shift and inequality of human water use in China over the last half century.
Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-42569-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-42569-x

Keywords

  • Human water use
  • Spatial dynamics
  • Water use inequality
  • Gravity movement
  • Gini coefficient
  • China

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