The invention relates to a barium aluminate spinel composite oxide cobalt-based catalyst for hydrogen production by autothermal reforming of acetic acid. The invention provides a novel catalyst which is stable in structure, resistant to sintering, resistant to carbon deposition, resistant to oxidation and high in activity aiming at the problem that the catalyst is inactivated due to the change of the catalyst structure and the oxidation and sintering of active components in the autothermal reforming process of acetic acid in the existing catalyst, the molar composition of the catalyst is (BaO) a (AlO1.5) b (CoO1.5) c, wherein a is 0.285-0.588, b is 0.269-0.599, and c is 0.102-0.165; in terms of oxide, the weight percentage of the barium oxide is 52.0-78.0%, the weight percentage of the aluminum oxide is 12.0-36.0%, and the weight percentage of the cobalt oxide is 10.0-12.0%. The catalyst is prepared by adopting a sol-gel method, and the barium-aluminum composite oxide cobalt-based catalyst which takes Co-Ba-Al-O as an active center and BaCO3 as a framework and contains BaAl2O4 and CoAl2O4 spinel structures is formed after roasting, so that the oxidation resistance and the dispersity of active components are improved, and meanwhile, the hydrogen yield, the sintering resistance and the carbon deposition resistance in the acetic acid autothermal reforming process are improved.