[Objective] The characteristics and driving factors of spatial variation of land use in Jilin Province were analyzed in order to provide scientific basis for sustainable development of land use and ecological environment construction.[Methods] Based on the land use data of Jilin Province in 1990 and 2018, the location index, diversification index, information entropy and equilibrium degree of land use were calculated. Combined with Moran index, the spatial auto-correlation was explored to analyze the land use spatial differentiation characteristics in Jilin Province.[Results] ① From 1990 to 2018, the characteristics of land use in Jilin Province generally maintained a double dominance of forest and cultivated land, the double dominance of cultivated land in the west and the central part were relatively increased, the double dominance of water area were disappeared, and the double dominance of cultivated land in Changchun City in the central part was developed. ② The land use diversification index, information entropy and equilibrium index of Jilin Province kept high in the west and low in the east, but those three indexes showed an overall trend of decline in other areas, except for the main urban area of Changchun City. Both the diversity index and the information entropy had positive global auto-correlation. The high-high pattern aggregation area was in the western region of Jilin Province, and the aggregation area was shrinking. The aggregation area of low-low pattern was generally stable. ③ Natural environmental factors (temperature, precipitation) had a relatively significant impact on the spatial differentiation of land use.[Conclusion] The land use change in Jilin Province has obvious spatial differentiation characteristics, and natural environmental and social and economic factors are the main driving factors.