Background: A 4G/5G polymorphism in the promoter region of the plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1) gene has been reported to enhance the plasma levels of PAI-1, which plays an important role in fibrinolysis disorders and venous thromboembolism, but a large number of studies have reported inconclusive results. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis to analysis these associations. Materials and methods: We performed a publication search for articles published before April 2019 by using the electronic databases of web of Science, Embase, PubMed, CNKI, CBM and WanFang data with the following terms “PAI-1”,“polymorphism”,“Venous Thromboembolism”. Two investigators independently extracted data and assessed study quality. Statistical analyses were undertaken using Stata 14.0. Results: A total of 27 studies, with 3135 patients and 5346 controls were included. Overall, the variant PAI-1 4G/4G and PAI-1 4G/5G was associated with venous thromboembolism risk, compared with the PAI-1 5G/5G allele in the populations included in the analysis. Stratified analysis revealed that PAI-1 4G/4G and PAI-1 4G/5G genotypes were associated with an increased VTE risk among Asia populations in all five genetic models. Conclusions: The PAI-1 4G/5G polymorphism may be a potential biomarker of VTE risk, particularly in Asia populations. Further larger studies with multi-ethnic populations are required to further assess the association between PAI-1 4G/4G polymorphisms and VTE risk.