OBJECTIVE： To provide data and reference for pharmacist legislation. METHODS： Questionnaire survey was designed investigate and analyze the staffing situation， education level， professional composition， age composition， professional titles composition， continuing education and wage of pharmacists who worked in medical and health institutions from 16 states （cities） in Yunnan province， and suggestions were put forward for relevant legislation. RESULTS： Totally 10 questionnaires were received from provincial medical and health institutions， and 16 from state （city） Health and Family Planning Commission， with effective recovery of 100％； data covered 1 561 medical and health institutions， involving 7 409 pharmacists. The numbers of pharmacy personnel/hospital beds in tertiary hospitals， secondary hospitals and class-1 hospitals were 1 ∶ 15.49， 1 ∶ 17.50， 1 ∶ 20.68， numbers of pharmacy personnel/health professional and technical personnel in hospital accounted for 5.62％， 6.18％， 5.30％， respectively； most pharmacists in tertiary hospitals were mainly undergraduate degree （35.21％）， doctor degree accounted for 0.15％， the highest ratio of education was junior college degree in secondary hospitals （41.60％） and class-1 hospitals （57.51％）； most pharmacists graduated in pharmacy in tertiary hospitals （94.14％）， 70.22％ in secondary hospitals and only 10.50％ in class-1 hospitals； pharmacy personnel mainly held the pharmacist professional titles in tertiary， secondary and class-1 hospitals （33.83％， 37.89％ and 63.55％）， senior professional titles accounted for 5.88％， 2.71％ and 0.21％， respectively； only a few have learning experience and almost less than 6 months （9.17％， 5.84％ and 21.32％）， and 80 pharmacists were certificated as clinical pharmacists in the whole province； generally， all wage was concentrated in 2 000-2 999 per month （27.72％， 41.80％ and 55.90％， respectively）. CONCLUSIONS： Shortage of hospital pharmacists and lack of senior personnel are the main problems in Yunnan province， and wage is not high， especially in primary hospital， this situation is more obvious. The current situation of pharmacists in the hospital should be more taken into consideration during the legislative process in aspects of clearing and guaranteeing access qualifications， responsibilities， status， rights and interests， and pharmaceutical technology and service charges should be established.