Background For elder person, fall is the leading cause of injury death in China. Besides death, fall leads to disability and other nonfatal results. The population of people aged over 60 is 178 million; elder person fall is an important public health problem in China.

Methods Data of falls was descriptively analysed from Chinese NISS from 2008 to 2014.

Results Totally 216,676 falls among older person were analysed, which accounted for 52.12% of all unintentional injury cases among older person. The gender ratio is 0.76. The case number showed an increasing trend by year, while the proportion of fall among all unintentional injuries did not change much. In 2014 NISS database, 41,073 falls among older person were analysed. The proportion of fall among all unintentional injuries is 52.81%, and it increased by age group. The gender ratio is 0.77 and more female felled with age increase. The peak hour in a day is 8:00–11:59 in morning (33.31% of total). The top three place injuries happened is at home (55.66%), in the public residents (20.52%) and on the roads (16.14%). Recreation activates (68.94%) and housework/study (16.14%) were the two major activities. The most common injured parts of body were low limbs (29.28%), head (24.40%) and body (20.04%), while the most common natures of falls were bruise (45.76%) and fractures (29.52%). 64.20% of all cased were minor, while the proportion of moderate and serious injuries increased with age increased.

Conclusions Fall was the main injury type in China, which showed an increasing trend in proportion among all unintentional injuries. The prevention of falls among older person should be put into priority.