The worldwide population is aging, and the number of surgeries performed in geriatric patients is increasing. This systematic review evaluated anesthetic procedures to assess global data on perioperative and anesthesia-related cardiac arrest (CA) rates in geriatric surgical patients. Available data on perioperative and anesthesia-related CA rates over time and by the country's Human Development Index (HDI) were evaluated by meta-regression, and a pooled analysis of proportions was used to compare perioperative and anesthesia-related CA rates by HDI and time period. The meta-regression showed that perioperative CA rates did not change significantly over time or by HDI, whereas anesthesia-related CA rates decreased over time (P = 0.04) and in high-HDI (P = 0.015). Perioperative and anesthesia-related CA rates per 10,000 anesthetic procedures declined in high-HDI, from 38.6 before the 1990s to 7.7 from 1990-2017 (P < 0.001) and from 9.2 before the 1990s to 1.3 from 1990-2017 (P < 0.001), respectively. The perioperative CA rate from 1990-2017 was higher in low-HDI than in high-HDI countries (P < 0.001). Hence, a reduction in anesthesia-related CA rates over time was observed. Both perioperative and anesthesia-related CA rates only decreased with a high-HDI between time periods, and perioperative CA rates during 1990-2017 were 4-fold higher with low- compared to high-HDI in geriatric patients.