Drought is the main meteorological disaster affecting the potato industry in central and southern Ningxia; however, the spatiotemporal characteristics and driving factors of drought in different growth stages of potatoes in Ningxia under climate change have not yet been revealed. Based on the data from eight meteorological stations in central and southern Ningxia from 1991 to 2020, we investigated the temporal characteristics of meteorological elements and drought intensity in different growth stages of potatoes, using crop water efficiency index (CWDI) and Mann-Kendall test. Geographic information system (GIS) was employed to analyze the spatial distribution of drought levels and frequencies, and path analysis was used to identify the main driving factors. The results showed that for most stations, precipitation and crop water demand significantly decreased during the flowering-harvesting period, so did the wind speed throughout the entire growth period. The drought intensity in different growth stages was in the following order: branching-flowering period>flowering-harvesting period> germination-branching period. The average drought intensity in the 2010s has decreased compared with the 1990s and 2000s. Whereas the drought frequency was branching-flowering period (76%-100%)>flowering-harvesting period (48%-94%)>germination-branching period (26%-74%). Spatially, the level and frequency of drought decreased from north to south, with the highest level and frequency in Tongxin Station, and lowest in Jingyuan Station. The influence of driving factors on the germination-branching period and branching-flowering period showed precipitation>crop water demand> average temperature>sunshine hours>relative humidity>average wind speed; but precipitation>crop water demand>average temperature>relative humidity>average wind speed on the flowering-harvesting period.