ObjectiveTo systematically review the prevalence of elder abuse in China.MethodsPubMed, EMbase, Web of Science, CNKI, VIP and WanFang Data databases were electronically searched to collect cross-sectional studies on the prevalence of elder abuse in China from inception to June 2019. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed risk bias of included studies; then, meta-analysis was performed by R 3.5.1 software.ResultsA total of 11 cross-sectional studies involving 23 020 subjects were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that the prevalence of abuse among the elderly in China was 20.29% (95%CI 12.9% to 28.9%). The highest prevalence of elder abuse subtype was psychological abuse with 15.06% (95%CI 10.2% to 20.6%). The prevalence rates were 20.1% in male and 23.64% in female. The prevalence rates in individuals aged between 60 to 70, 70 to 80 and above 80 were 19.76%, 22.24% and 29.19%, respectively. Illiterates and non-illiterates were 29.39% and 22.52% respectively. Normal marital status was 28.24%, and abnormal status was 31.38%. The elderly living alone was the highest (50.67%), compared with family residents (39.42%) and elderly living in pension institutions (29.94%). The elderly without chronic diseases (16.05%) was lower than elderly with chronic diseases (25.49%), and elderly having normal capability of daily living (26.89%) was lower than elderly having reduced capability of daily living (48.78%). Urban residents were 18.46%, while rural residents were 19.69%.ConclusionsThere is a high incidence of elder abuse in China, and it tends to increase with the increase of age. There are certain differences in the prevalence of elder maltreatment among different genders, ages, educational levels, marital status, living forms and spaces, and health conditions. Due to limited quality and quantity of the included studies, more high quality studies are required to verify the above conclusion.