The relationship between the quantity increase and decrease of production-living-ecological space (PLES) and the evolution process of spatial pattern are the premise of realizing the sustainable development and utilization of national space. Land use dynamic index, geo-information graphic, gravity analysis and bivariate spatial auto-correlation analysis were used to study the quantity change and spatial pattern evolution process of production-living-ecological space in the Yangtze River economic belt (YREB) from 1980 to 2020. The results were as follows: from 1980 to 2020, the main types of land space in the YREB were production space and ecological space, and the quantity changes of different land space types were obviously different. The agricultural production space and ecological space were decreased by 39403km2 and 248km2, respectively. The non-agricultural production space and living space were increased by 14804km2 and 27271km2, respectively. From 1980 to 2020, the spatial orientation and regional differences of land spatial pattern change in YREB were significant. From 1980 to 2020, the interaction between different land spatial types in the YREB had significant differences and obvious spatial heterogeneity.