Abstract: Meteorological data and the data of growth periods of maize at 63 meteorological stations in Southwestern China were collected ,and drought index (Hi index) for maize was constructed based on the relationship between water demand and water supply .Retrieval of every ten‐day drought for maize at the a‐bove stations during 1961-2010 was made to study the temporal and spatial distribution of drought fre‐quency and drought strength in Southwestern China .The results showed that drought for maize occurred in various regions in Southwestern China ,and the drought frequency was over 20% in eastern and middle Yunnan and in middle and western Sichuan Basin .Drought strength in middle and northeastern Yunnan was significantly greater than that in other regions .Drought frequency was the highest from emergence to jointing of the maize crop ,being as high as 40% -50% in middle and northeastern Yunnan ,in particular . Light ,medium and heavy drought occurred but occasionally from jointing to heading .Frequency of drought was the lowest from heading to seed‐filling ;however ,frequency of heavy drought might be as high as 7% -9% in some regions in Guizhou Province .Frequency of drought ranged from 10% to 20% in most regions from seed‐filling to maturity ,frequency of heavy drought being about 4.5% in the western part of Chongqing ,the middle and northeastern parts of Sichuan Basin ,the eastern part of Guizhou prov‐ince ,and the southeastern part of Yunnan province .