Objective  To examine the status of quality of life (QoL) and explore main influencing factors of QoL among residents of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (Ningxia) and to provide evidences for promoting QoL in the population.

  Methods  We recruited 4 465 residents aged ≥ 18 years in three municipalities of Ningxia with stratified random cluster sampling and conducted a questionnaire survey on QoL and its influencing factors from September to November 2015. World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale was adopted in the study.

  Results  For all the participants, the scores of physical, psychological, independence, social, environment, and spiritual domain were 64.28 ± 13.28, 57.29 ± 9.91, 62.37 ± 10.90, 67.48 ± 11.20, 55.20 ± 7.86, and 46.27 ± 18.12, respectively, and all the domain scores were significantly different form those the national norm (all P < 0.01). Univariate analyses showed that age, gender, nationality, education level, marital status, and household monthly income were closely related to total QoL score; further multivariate analyses revealed that all the QoL domain scores and total score were influenced significantly by age, education level, household monthly income, and marital status after adjusting for other confounding factors (P < 0.05 for all).

  Conclusion  The overall quality of life is at a good level and mainly influenced by age, marital status, education, and household monthly income among adult residents in Ningxia.