Objective To analyze the distribution of pathogens, drug susceptibility and multi-drug resistant bacteria (MDRB) in elderly patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) complicated with pneumonia. Methods The clinical data of patients whose discharge diagnosis included AECOPD with pneumonia or pulmonary infection from January 2012 to December 2015 were retrospectively analyzed. Strain identification and drug sensitivity analysis were performed in the pathogenic bacterias isolated from sputum culture. Results A total of 1 978 patients were enrolled in this study, and pathogenic bacterias were isolated from the sputum of 708 patients, including 485 cases of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and 223 cases of hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP); and 786 strains of pathogens were isolated (501 strains from CAP cases, 285 strains from HAP cases), including 448 strains of Gram-negative (G–) bacilli (57.0%), 117 strains of Gram-positive (G+) cocci (14.9%), and 221 strains of fungi (28.1%). Susceptibility testing results showed that G– bacilli were highly resistant to penicillins, third generation cephalosporins, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, etc., and G+ cocci were highly resistant to penicillin, clindamycin and erythromycin. There were 238 strains of MDRB, mainly including 69 strains of Acinetobacter baumanii [multiple drug resistance rate (MDRR)=67.6%], 27 strains of Escherichia coli (MDRR=52.9%), 25 strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae (MDRR=34.2%), 33 strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MDRR=33.0%) and 24 strains of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (MDRR=100.0%). MDRR of Enterococcus genus and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus was 50.0% and 48.0%, respectively. Conclusions The pathogenic bacterias in elderly AECOPD patients complicated with pneumonia are mainly G– bacterias, and the proportion of fungal infection tends to increase. Bacterial drug resistance is serious and the MDRB tends to increase, especially in patients with HAP. Physicians should early find out the characteristics of local pathogenic bacteria and drug sensitivity, rationally select antibiotics, reduce the occurrence of drug-resistant strains and superinfection when treating the elderly patients with AECOPD complicated with pneumonia.