The average number of registered and permanent resident population in the natural village has been only 328.7 and 285.8, respectively, in China. The fragmentation of rural settlements has led to the lack of scale economies and service efficiency in the construction of public service facilities, further restricting the social and economic development of rural areas. The eastern plains of China share the largest agricultural population, the most concentrated farmland, and the largest scale of rural settlements. It is very necessary to systematically explore the fragmentation of rural settlements in this region. Taking the eastern plains of China as the study area, 240 sample points were selected in this study using spatially stratified sampling, each of which was a square of 10 km×10 km. The high-resolution remote sensing images were collected to determine the fragmentation status and causes of rural settlements in the study area using visual interpretation of remote sensing images, landscape index analysis, and hot spot analysis. In addition, the suitable number and service scope of rural settlements were further evaluated in different areas, according to the central place theory. The results indicate that: 1) The fragmentation status of rural settlements in the study area: the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River plain> the Northeast Plain> the North China Plain, where the areas with the highest fragmentation degree were located in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River plain, and the areas with the lowest degree of fragmentation were located in the North China Plain and the north of Northeast Plain. 2) The traffic situation during the land development period was the main reason for the spatial differentiation of the fragmentation of rural settlements. The population density, water system density, land development time, and land development policies also played an important role in the formation of the spatial distribution pattern of rural settlements. 3) The suitable farming radius in the eastern plain should not exceed 3.6-4.2 km, the rural settlements per 100 km2 should not be less than 3-4, and the service range of each rural settlement should not exceed 33.6-45.8 km2. 4) The North China Plain was the most difficult area in the eastern plain of China to carry out the relocation and merger of rural settlements so the relocation of rural settlements in this area should be carried out on a voluntary basis with farmers as units, rather than with villages as the unit. The middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River plain should be regarded as the key area for the consolidation of rural settlements, and the rural settlements should be gradually relocated and merged on the basis of farmers' willingness. This finding can provide a standard basis to rationally determine the number and scale of rural settlements in the process of rural spatial reconstruction in the eastern plains of China.