The relationship between population distribution and economic development has attracted much attention for a long time. Space consistency between population distribution and economic development in China was evaluated in different temporal and spatial scales using qualitative and quantitative analysis methods through constructing the Consistency of Population and Economy Index and Consistency Deviation Index since the reform and opening-up. The results showed that: At the county level,the degree of population agglomeration was higher than that of economy agglomeration from 2000 to 2010. Population agglomeration showed obvious economic oriented characteristics,and the agglomeration of population and economy was steadily optimized. At the provincial level,space consistency between population distribution and economic development enhanced gradually during 2000-2010. And,the disparity of space consistency decreased due to the narrowing regional economic disparity. At the regional and national levels,the space consistency in the eastern region was basically stable,the middle region kept the best record,the western region was in decline, while the northeast region showed a slight increasing trend. The national space consistency showed a decreasing trend from 1978 to 2010.
