Abstract: From the perspective of water footprint, four indicators of economic added value,opportunity cost, cultivated land area and water resource endowment were selected from both economy and resource aspects. With the help of Gini coefficient, the fairness evaluation model was systematically constructed to study the fairness of water for grain production in China from 2015 to 2020. The results showed that from the perspective of time dimension, the overall situation of water for grain production in China was in the state of “absolute fairness”from 2015 to 2020, and water resource endowment would be the main factor restricting the fairness of water for grain production in China in the future. From the perspective of spatial dimension, most provinces （municipalities and autonomous regions） in China belonged to low unfairness areas. High unfairness provinces（municipalities and autonomous regions） were mainly located in the western and northern regions of China. Based on this, suggestions were put forward to improve regional fairness of water use for grain production in China and alleviate regional water pressure, such as establishing a scientific and reasonable ecological compensation mechanism, pushing cross-regional water planning cooperation, optimizing the industrial structure according to local conditions and promoting the scientific management and protection of the “two districts”.

Key words: water footprint, water for grain production, regional fairness, Gini coefficient