ObjectiveTo systematically review the epidemiological characteristics and economic burden of traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) in China.MethodsPubMed, EMbase, WanFang Data, VIP and CNKI databases were electronically searched to collect studies of the epidemiological characteristics and economic burden of SCI in China from January 1st, 1978 to August 30th, 2017. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies, then, meta-analysis was performed by using Stata 12.0 software.ResultsA total of 32 studies were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that: the prevalence of SCI in China was 37 persons per million per year (95%CI 21 to 53), with the average age ranged from 34.7 to 54.4 years. Men had a higher risk of SCI than Women. Motor vehicle collisions (MVCs) and falls were the two main causes of SCI. The neurological injury levels were varied, ASIA grade A was the most common and grade E was the least.ConclusionCurrent evidence shows that there is a high prevalence of SCI in China with heavy social and medical burden. The main reason of SCI is motor vehicle collisions and falls. Due to limited quality and quantity of the included studies, more high-quality studies are needed to verify above conclusion.