ObjectivesTo systematically review the prevalence of asthma in adults (>14 years old) in China.MethodsPubMed, Web of Science, CENTRAL, CINAHL, WanFang Data, CBM, CNKI, and VIP databases were electronically searched to collect cross-sectional studies on the prevalence of asthma in Chinese adults from January 2000 to December 2019. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies, then, meta-analysis was performed by using Stata 15.0 software.ResultsA total of 67 cross-sectional studies, involving 1 381 673 subjects and 19 871 adult asthma patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that the prevalence rate of asthma in adults in China was 1.81% (95%CI 1.59% to 2.01%). The subgroup analysis showed that the prevalence rates of asthma in males and females were 1.87% and 1.76%, respectively. The prevalence rates were 2.16% in the northeast region, 1.34% in the central region, 1.63% in the eastern region and 2.23% in the western region. The prevalence rates were 0.73%, 1.53%, and 2.81% in 15-40 years old, 41-60 years old, and >60 years old, respectively. The prevalence rates were 3.07% in illiteracy population, 1.69% in primary school population, 1.46% in junior middle school population, 1.01% in senior high school population and 0.98% in college and above population. The prevalence rates were 2.23%, 2.10%, 1.17%, 1.45%, 1.09%, and 1.41% in agriculture, forestry and animal husbandry personnel, workers, public officials, business and service personnel, military personnel, and other occupations, respectively. The prevalence rates were 1.41% and 1.59% in Han and other ethnic populations, respectively. The prevalence rates were 2.03% in cities and 1.99% in rural areas. And the prevalence rates were 1.22% in 2000 to 2005, 2.07% in 2006 to 2010, 2.25% in 2011 to 2015, and 2.62% in 2016 to 2019.ConclusionsThe prevalence rate of asthma in Chinese adults is higher, which is different due to the influence of age, sex, region, education, and occupation.