[Objectives]  To understand characteristics of the overwintering population of the white-backed planthopper, Sogatella furcifera, in major rice growing areas of Yunnan province, and the relationship between the abundance of this population and that of the summer population during the rice growing season. [Methods]  Systematic field survey methods were used to assess the overwintering population of S. furcifera in the major rice growing areas of Yunnan Province from 2010 to 2015. In 2013, researchers from Nanjing Agricultural University and the Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences jointly conducted field surveys covering 6 000 kilometers in 10 counties. Sampling to investigate overwintering characteristics was conducted at 20 sites in western, southwestern, southern and southeastern Yunnan. [Results]  The overwintering population of S. furcifera in rice-growing areas of Yunnan was mainly concentrated in the south (23°57¢N) up to 1 608 m above sea level. In this region, the density of the overwintering population fluctuated widely below a maximum of 1 200/667 m², and nymphs and adults comprised 97.33% of the population. The main overwintering sites were in ratooning rice, rice piles and early season seedlings in paddy-fields. There was no significant correlation between the density of the local overwintering population, and abundance during the seedling stage, transplanting period, booting stage, or the total population (P>0.05). [Conclusion]  The likelihood of S. furcifer outbreaks from the overwintering population is small in Yunnan province.