【Objective】 To investigate the incidence and epidemiologic characteristics of birth defects in Shaanxi province,and then to provide scientific evidences for exploring risk factors further. 【Methods】 According to "The Birth Defects Monitoring Program of China",all perinatal infants aged from 28 weeks of gestation to 7 days after birth in 25 monitoring hospitals in Shaanxi province in 2010 were monitored for birth defects,the data were entered by Excel 2003 and analyzed by SPSS 13.0 software. 【Results】 The incidence of birth defects in Shaanxi province in 2010 was 124.1/10⁴,The top five main birth defects were congenital heart diseases,total cleft lip,neural tube defects,polydactyly,congenital hydrocephalus,respectively,The incidence of birth defects in rural areas was significantly higher than that in urban areas (χ²=8.58,P<0.01).There were no significant differences between boys and girls,and the incidence of birth defects was the highest among those pregnant women aged over 35 years(170.5/10⁴).The incidence of birth defects among multiple births was higher than that among singleton. 【Conclusions】 The incidence of birth defect in Shaanxi province is lower than the nationwide average level in 2010.The epidemiologic features are that the incidence of birth defects have significant differences between urban and rural areas,among different age of mother,between singleton and multiple births.The government should attach importance to the primary prevention work of the neural tube defects in rural areas,and take effective measures on women over 35 age and multiple pregnancy.