E-cadherin has been implicated in invasiveness and metastasis. However, the clinical prognostic value of decreased E-cadherin expression in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains unsettled. A meta-analysis of eligible studies was performed to quantitatively review the correlation of decreased E-cadherin expression with survival in patients with NSCLC. Thirteen studies, including 2,274 patients, were subjected to final analysis. The rate of decreased E-cadherin expression was 47.6 % overall and 41.4 % for stage I disease. The combined hazard ratio (HR) was 1.41 (95 % CI 0.18-1.65; P = 0.001), indicating that decreased E-cadherin expression had an unfavorable impact on the survival of patients with NSCLC. Further, in the stratified analysis by ethnicity, the combined HR in Asians was 1.49 (95 % CI 1.27-1.71) and in non-Asians was 1.01 (95 % CI 1.00-1.02). However, when only the stage I studies were considered, the combined HR was 1.19 (95 % CI 0.90-1.47; P = 0.576), suggesting that decreased E-cadherin expression has no impact on survival. Decreased E-cadherin expression was associated with poor survival in patients with NSCLC, especially among Asians, but was not significantly correlated with survival for stage I NSCLC patients.