Abstract: In order to investigate the changes in the ecological health index and limiting factors in Shanxi Province from 2011 to 2021, an evaluation system including 24 indicators was constructed based on the Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) model to evaluate the ecological health status of Shanxi Province, analyze the characteristics of the temporal and spatial evolution of the ecological health of the 11 cities and diagnose the main obstacle factors affecting their development using the obstacle degree model.The results showed that: ① the comprehensive evaluation index of ecological health in Shanxi Province has been increasing year by year, shifting from sub-pathological state to critical state; the pressure subsystem has increased most significantly, from 0.34 to 0.63, and the ecological pressure has been reduced significantly.② Temporally, the ecological health index of each city in Shanxi Province showed an increasing trend from 2011 to 2021.Spatially, the overall pattern showed that the ecological health levels were higher in the southeastern cities and lower in the northern and southwestern cities, Taiyuan City and Jinzhong City first manifested the sub-healthy state in 2021.③ Human activity density, water production modulus, effective irrigated area, per capita water resources, and domestic water consumption were the main obstacle factors.The obstacle degree of the influence subsystem has been continuously increasing, the obstacle degrees of the driver, state and response subsystems remain unchanged, and the obstacle degree of pressure subsystem continues to decrease.