Abstract：Based on socio-economic data from 1995 to 2014 in Datong county, employing SPSS, we studied characteristics of land use changes in Datong county during the four different periods: 1995—2001, 2001—2005, 2005—2010, 2010—2014 with such methods as change models of land use, principal component analysis and typical correlation analysis, and explored the driving factors of land use change as well. The results show that: during the past 20 years, the main land use types in Datong county were cultivated land, forest land and grass land, however, the area of grass land, cultivated land, construction land and water area have decreased while the area of forest land and unused land have increased; the amount and rate of cultivated land change was relatively stable while unused land showed the maximum change in land use dynamic index, followed by water area and construction land; during the period of 2010—2014, dynamic degree of every land use type has decreased except forest land, with water area showing the fastest reducing speed and cultivated land the slowest; the land use degree showed a wavy trend in the past 20 years; the main influencing factors are socio-economic factor, and natural factor and policy factor are the driving factors.

Keyword：land use change;driving factors;Datong county;