Abstract Background Several studies have suggested that depression is associated with an increased risk for fracture; however, the results are conflicting. This study aimed to conduct a meta-analysis of cohort studies assessing the association between depression and the risk for fracture. Methods Relevant studies were identified by a search of Web of Science, PubMed, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure and WanFang database to Feb 2018. Cohort studies on the relationship between depression and the risk for fracture in the general population were included in the meta-analysis. Data collection was in accordance with the Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE) guidelines, and the quality of the included studies was assessed using the Newcastle–Ottawa scale. Two independent investigators screened the abstracts and full texts of the studies, extracted data, and assessed the quality of the study. Either a fixed-effect or random-effects model was used to compute the pooled risk estimates when appropriate. Results In total, 16 cohort studies with 25 independent reports that included 414,686 participants during a follow-up duration of 3–14 years were included in the analysis. The pooled hazard ratio (HR) for total fracture was 1.24 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.14–1.35; P