OBJECTIVE To provide reference for improving resource carrying capacity of pharmaceutical industry and guaranteeing the healthy and sustainable development of pharmaceutical industry of China. METHODS The evaluation system of resource carrying capacity was constructed ，including 4 primary indicators and 17 secondary indicators. The data of above indicators were selected from 31 provinces（autonomous regions and municipalities ）（hereinafter referred to as provinces ）of China during 2013-2020. The index weight and regional relevance were calculated by entropy weight technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution（TOPSIS）method. RESULTS & CONCLUSIONS The weights of 4 primary indicators were 0.182 0 （industrial scale ），0.349 5（industrial innovation resources ），0.211 5（economic resources ）and 0.257 1（industrial development foundation）. It indicated that industrial innovation resources were the main factor affecting the resource carrying capacity of pharmaceutical industry ，followed by industrial development foundation and economic resources ，and the impact of industrial scale was the least. From 2013 to 2016 and from 2018 to 2020，the average closeness of the pharmaceutical industry in China ’s provinces were 0.259 6，0.267 1，0.253 6，0.249 9，0.250 5，0.248 5 and 0.252 0，respectively. It indicated that the resource carrying capacity of China ’s pharmaceutical industry showed a stable development trend ，but the overall development was in low level. The top 5 regions in terms of closeness of carrying capacity were Jiangsu ，Guangdong，Shandong，Zhejiang and Beijing ；the regions in the bottom 5 were Gansu ，Hainan，Qinghai，Tibet and Ningxia. Overall ，the resource carrying capacity of China ’s pharmaceutical industry showed a gradual decreasing trend from the eastern coastal area to the western inland area. For the provinces with the highest resource carrying capacity of pharmaceutical industry ，further development can be carried out on the basis of maintaining the original carrying capacity ；for the provinces with the middle resource carrying cap acity of p harmaceutical industry ，enhancing the development potential and improving the industrialfoundation are the main methods to improve the resource carrying capacity of pharmaceutical industry ；for the provinces wangjl@126.com with low resource carrying capacity of pharmaceutical industry ， it can be considered to start from their own unique advantages ， make full use of characteri stic industrial resources ，form a characteristic industrial foundation ，actively promote interregional cooperation ，implement regional cluster development and improve the resource carrying capacity of pharmaceutical industry.