Abstract: Accurately grasping the coupling coordination relationship between farmers' livelihoods and rural development is of great significance for solving issues affecting farmers, agriculture, and rural areas, and promoting sustainable regional development. The livelihood capital status of 626 rural households in Luonan County, Shaanxi Province was calculated based on the sustainable livelihood framework proposed by the United Kingdom Department for International Development, and the development level of the villages in which the farmers are located was measured. Then, the relationship between farmers' livelihoods and rural development was studied using a coupling coordination model. The results are as follows: (1) The average livelihood capital level of the rural households in Luonan County was 0.171 4, which is relatively low. Within the overall level, the levels of social and physical capital were the highest, followed by natural capital, with levels of human and financial capital being the lowest. (2) Luonan County's average rural development level was 0.354 2, which again is relatively low. Especially in the less developed rural villages, there is significant room for improving the industrial development, human settlements, and resource endowments. (3) The level of farmers' livelihoods is lower than the level of rural development in most sample villages, and the livelihood levels of farmers need to be improved. On the basis of the findings, suggestions are made for the coordinated development of farmers' livelihoods and rural development. When farmers' livelihoods lag behind rural development, it is important to promote the development of modern agriculture and to improve living conditions, infrastructure, and public service facilities in rural areas to increase the value of the livelihood capital of the farmers. In villages where farmers' livelihoods are synchronized with rural development, but both remain in early developmental stages, more labor can be absorbed by changing the original model of industrial development and improving industrial development conditions to promote the coordinated development of both livelihoods and rural development.

Key words: livelihood capital, rural development, coupling and coordination