Coupling Coordinated Analysis of Digital Village Construction, Economic Growth and Environmental Protection in Rural China

Coordinating the development of the economy and environment has always been a tough challenge. The digital village construction in China offers unprecedented historical opportunities for rural areas to propel coordinated development and catch up with their urban counterparts. This paper used a coupling coordination degree model, exploratory spatial data analysis, and an obstacle degree model to investigate the coupling coordination of digital village construction, economic growth, and the environmental protection system (DEES) in rural China from 2015 to 2021. The results indicate: (1) The coupling coordination degree of DEES increases annually, yet a significant spatial imbalance among regions persists. (2) There is a positive spatial correlation in the coupling coordination of DEES, with the clustering trend gradually strengthening and subsequently weakening. (3) The most consistent obstacles are economic growth and per capita income, while obstacle factors vary among provinces. The results suggest that governments should increase investment in rural digital infrastructure, promote the synergistic efforts of the digital economy and green development, and drive the digitization of rural areas. Meanwhile, each province should use its own resources effectively, to make up for any shortcomings, thereby promoting coupling coordinated development in rural areas.