Adiponectin has been indicated to be linked with depression. In the present study, a meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the association between adiponectin levels and depression. Six studies with a total of 4,220 subjects were selected for inclusion in the analysis. The references were retrieved via PubMed, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and Embase, and the following Chinese databases: The China National Knowledge Infrastructure, China Biology Medicine disc, VIP Database for Chinese Technical Periodicals and Wan Fang Data. The analyses were performed using Review Manager 5.2 software. The standardized mean difference (SMD) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) was assessed following pooling the collected data for analysis. A significant association was detected between adiponectin levels and depression in European populations. In the European group of patients with depression, improvements were observed in adiponectin levels (SMD, -5.00 µg/ml, 95% CI, -7.13 to -2.88). The current meta-analysis indicates that patients with patients had a lower adiponectin level when compared to healthy patients in European groups.