Study region: Hanjiang River Basin, China Study focus: Under the joint influences of human activities and climate change, droughts frequently occur in the Hanjiang River Basin (HRB). Quantifying the driving forces contribution on hydrological drought is crucial to enhance the early warning ability. This study employed the standardized streamflow index (SSI) to assess hydrological drought. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was utilized to reconstruct natural streamflow based on hydrological and meteorological data. By comparing the variations of drought characteristics in simulated and observed scenarios, the impacts of human activities and climate change to hydrological drought were quantified. New hydrological insights for the study region: The SWAT model is capable of effectively simulating the natural streamflow conditions of the HRB with NSE>0.7, R2>0.8, logNSE>0.7 and |PBIAS|