Population expansion and economic development have brought a series of resource-related and environmental problems, there is an urgent need to explore the coupling coordinated relationship of population-water resources-economy-ecological environment (PWEE) system in nine provinces/regions of the Yellow River Basin to promote the high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin. In this study, an evaluation index system of PWEE system coupling coordinated development in the nine provinces/regions was constructed. Entropy weight method, coupling coordination degree model and obstacle degree model were used to analyze the comprehensive development level, coupling coordination state and obstacle factors of the PWEE system in the study area from 2008 to 2020. The results revealed that during the study period, the comprehensive development level of the PWEE system and its subsystems was on an upward trend, and the coupling coordinated degree increased from 0.56 in 2008 to 0.69 in 2020. The coupling coordination effect was strengthening, and as a whole the coupling coordination level of the nine provinces/regions changed from quasi coordination to primary coordination. The water resource subsystem had always been the limiting factor affecting the coordinated development of the PWEE system in the nine provinces/regions, whose average obstacle degree increased from 49.05% in 2008 to 55.48% in 2020, with per capita water resources as the main obstacle factor.