The karst area in Southwestern China is regarded as one of the most vulnerable ecological zones, characterized by low environmental capacity, high sensitivity of environmental variation, and low resilience of ecosystems to catastrophic variations. Soil fauna are important components of terrestrial ecosystems and play significant roles in maintaining the functions and stability of ecosystems. Based on meta-analysis, the present study evaluated the community characteristics of soil fauna in the Karst region, Southwest China, by analyzing the soil fauna species composition, their vertical distribution, and the influence of rocky desertification on soil fauna density and group numbers. Publications related to studies of soil fauna ecology studies carried out in the Karst region of Southwest China, which were published between January 1, 1990 to October 31, 2016, were retrieved from the Web of Science and China Knowledge Resource Integrated Database (CNKI) by using key words of soil fauna, soil animal, soil invertebrates, soil micro-arthropods, and karst both in Chinese and English. A total of 34 publications were selected for meta-analysis after literature filtering and quality evaluation. Results of meta-analysis, using R langue for statistical analysis, showed that soil fauna belonged to 5 phyla, 15 classes, and 31 groups (classes or orders) in the Karst region of Southwest China. Soil macro-fauna were dominated by Hymenoptera and Coleoptera. Soil micro-fauna and soil meso-fauna were dominated by soil mites and collembolan. The density of soil micro-fauna and meso-fauna ranged from 6.0×10³ to 1.9×10⁴ individuals m^-2. Soil fauna density and group numbers in summer and autumn were significantly higher than those in winter and spring. Rocky desertification in the Karst region, Southwest China, significantly decreased soil fauna density (P < 0.01, MD=-7799.6, 95% CI:-10822.24——4776.99) and group numbers (P < 0.01, MD=-1.9, 95% CI:-2.89——1.09). Soil fauna individuals significantly decreased with soil depth (P < 0.01, MD=-23.4, 95% CI:-0.31——0.16), showing an obvious phenomenon of soil surface layer accumulation. These results indicate that soil fauna group numbers were high, while the density was low. Nevertheless, soil fauna density was possibly underestimated because of the lack of soil nematodes data in most of the retrieved original publications. Because of the importance of soil fauna in ecosystems, greater attention should be paid to the soil fauna communities and their ecological functions, especially for biodiversity protection and the recovery of vulnerable ecosystems in the Karst region, Southwest China.