To evaluate the efficiency of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) in paediatric education. The research articles on the application of PBL to Chinese paediatric education published in from 1989 to 2014 in the Cochrane library, PubMed/MEDLINE, EBSCO (Elton B. Stephens Company Database), OVID (Ovid Technologies Database), Web of Science, CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database), VIP (Wei Pu Database), WF (WanFang Database) and other databases were retrieved by two independent evaluators according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The heterogeneity of the retrieved data was analysed and a meta-analysis was performed using the RevMan 5.3 software. The articles were initially retrieved, and 11 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included for the meta-analysis. The PBL group was significantly superior to the Lecture-Based Learning (LBL) group for the paediatrics theoretical test score, case analysis score and overall student satisfaction, and the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). PBL is superior to LBL method for Chinese paediatric education.