Ecological land use stability is an important carrier to maintain ecological land quantity and quality. Based on the land use data of GlobeLand30 in 2000, 2010 and 2020, GIS spatial analysis and ecological land use stability index, this paper revealed the spatial pattern characteristics of ecological land stability in China from 2000 to 2020. Meanwhile, the main influencing factors of ecological land use stability were explored by using Geodetector. Results showed that:(1) The overall area of ecological land in China has decreased by nearly 7.44×10⁴ km² over the 20 years, with the most obvious reduction in northwest Xinjiang. The encroachment of farmland (76.5%) and construction land (11.3%) were the main reason for the reduction of ecological land. (2) The quantity of stable ecological land in China took little change in the past 20 years, whose spatial distribution was basically content with "Hu Line", of which the hot spot area was distributed in the northwest side of the "Hu Line" (42.3%), and the cold spot area was on the southeast side of the "Hu Line" (21.2%); The high-stable ecological land area accounted for 53%, and there existed ecologically fragile western regions; there was little difference in the number of middle(24%) and low(23%) stability grades, and most of which were in the densely populated and economically developed central and eastern regions. (3) Natural factors, especially annual precipitation and annual sunshine duration, were playing the most significant impact on ecological land use stability change. At the same time, the interaction of natural and social economic factors, which became more powerful to explain the ecological land stability change than the single influence factor. The exploration of the spatial differentiation of ecological land stability and its influencing factors, which will provide a scientific basis for ensuring the red line of ecological protection, realizing the optimal allocation and planning of national space in a dynamic context, thus promoting the sustainable development of human-land relations.