Nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) ejections driven by raindrops promote the solute concentrations in the surface runoff and thereby the runoff losses from croplands. Compared to a considerable number of studies on upland fields, little evidence for the importance of raindrop-induced ejection has been generated for rice paddies primarily due to the lack of field observations and appropriate modeling system. Our extensive rainfall simulation experiments, along with the update of a physical-based solute transport model, shed new light onto the contribution made by raindrop-induced ejection to the total runoff losses from 6 typical rice paddies across China. Raindrop-induced ejection accounted for 22–59 % to 27–63 % of the total runoff losses of N and P across China, respectively, regardless of rice-growing stages. The rainfall intensity and initial concentrations in ponded water explained most (43 % for N and 53 % for P) of the variance of raindrop-induced ejection. N and P runoff losses were further underestimated by 23 % and 29 %, respectively, if ignoring the raindrop-induced ejection at soil-water interface in the model. Progress toward mitigating the runoff losses from rice paddies and associated water pollution will be difficult without reduction in the raindrop-induced ejection particularly in the rice paddies with higher extreme precipitation and more fertilizer application in future.