Abstract: Objective To synthesize available evidence on the economic burden of liver cancer in China to inform future evaluations. Methods Articles were searched in PubMed, CNKI and wanfang literature database during 1996-2015. Description of basic characteristics, analyses of economic burden data and quality assessment were conducted, and all the expenditure data was discounted to the year 2013. Results A total of 32 studies were included for analysis. Only 2 population-level studies reported the economic burden of liver cancer, which was 3 780 million CHY (provincial, direct and indirect) and 600 million (municipal, indirect), respectively. There were 30 individual-level studies reporting direct medical expenditure of liver cancer, in which the median annual expenditure per patient from 21 studies was 11 663 CNY (3 500-70 567), the median annual expenditure per visit from 9 studies was 19 202 CNY (7 005-41 118) and the annual median expenditure per diem from 11 studies was 865 CNY (409-1 275). All the three expenditure indicators showed a slow increase in the past two decades, and drug accounted more than half of the overall expenditure (56.6%). From 5 individual-level studies, the median indirect expenditure was 73 440 CNY (35 815-166 967). The overall reporting quality was poor. Conclusions Current evidence on population-level economic burden of liver cancer is limited in China, and the focus of which is inconsistent with the severity of disease burden in various regions. Expenditure per patient was reported mostly, while results should be interpreted with caution. Lastly, the indirect economic burden of liver cancer should not be ignored in further studies.