Abstract: Objective To investigate the status of caries in residents of Hainan province.Methods The representative samples were selected by multi-stage stratified random sampling.The data were processed with SPSS 12.0.Results Overall 2880 residents were examined.The prevalence rates of dental caries(PP)in children of 5 years old was 76.1%;the mean caries(DMFT)was 4.88.The PP and DMFT was higher among the children in urban than that of children in rural area.The PP was 49.9% and the DMFT was 1.08 for children of 12 years without significant difference between the children in urban and rural areas.Among the residents of 35-44 years and 65-74 years,the PP was 79.8% and 2.6%,respectively,and there was statistical difference in the rates between urban and rural residents.Conclusion The prevalence of dental caries in re sidents of all age was at high level.It will be a long and hard work to streng then oral health education and continuously implement preventive oralcare technique in Hainan province.