Abstract: The construction of the urban system of Urumqi metropolitan area is to strengthen regional cooperation and coordination,and to promote the economic development of the surrounding areas,in the case of decentralized development of cities in arid areas. Taking 2002,2006,2010 and 2015 as the four time cross sections of the study,the corresponding socio-economic data are selected,and the development efficiency of Urumqi metropolitan area is studied by using the DEA method. The main methods used in DEA are the CCR model, the BCC model and the Malmquist index. The CCR model is the DEA method does not consider the return to scale the overall efficiency of the main calculation model,the BCC model is considered under the condition of variable returns to scale can reflect the research elements of increasing or decreasing trend,the Malmquist model is a kind of dynamic efficiency evaluation index, mainly in total factor productivity. The results show that: ①The development efficiency of Urumqi metropolitan area is mainly based on the all-round development of Urumqi and Shihezi.②the development efficiency of other counties and cities in Urumqi metropolitan area is still in great room for improvement. ③2015,it has entered a new period of development, which is obviously different from the first three development time nodes.

Key words: development efficiency, DEA, urban system, Urumqi metropolitan area