Objective To investigate association between –174C/G genetic polymorphism of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and susceptibility to gastric cancer by conducting a meta-analysis. Methods Such databases as PubMed, Embase, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CNKI, VIP, and Wanfang Data were searched from inception to January 2017 to collect case-control studies about the correlation between the –174C/G genetic polymorphism of IL-6 and susceptibility to gastric cancer. For the population genotype distributions of both the gastric cancer group and the control group, their odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were taken as the effect indexes were applied to conduct meta-analysis in the homozygote model (CC vs. GG), heterozygote model (GC vs. GG), dominant model (CC+CG vs. GG), recessive model (CG+GG vs. CC), and allelic genetic model (C vs. G). Two reviewers independently screened the literatures, extracted the data, and evaluated the quality of the included studies. The meta-analysis was performed using Stata 12.0 software. Results Thirteen articles were included in the final meta-analysis, covering a total of 2 062 gastric cancer cases and 3 152 controls. The results of meta-analysis showed that there was no correlation between the IL-6 –174C/G genetic polymorphism and the risk of gastric cancer〔CC vs. GG: OR=1.33, 95% CI (0.92, 1.94); GC vs. GG: OR=1.32, 95% CI (0.96, 1.82); CC+CG vs. GG: OR=1.32, 95% CI (0.97, 1.80); CG+GG vs. CC: OR=0.89, 95% CI (0.67, 1.17); C vs. G: OR=1.22, 95% CI (0.98, 1.54)〕. But the results of the subgroup analysis showed there was a significant association between the IL-6 –174 C/G genetic polymorphism and the risk of gastric cancer in Asians〔CC vs. GG: OR=1.80, 95% CI (1.29, 2.50); GC vs. GG: OR=1.51, 95% CI (1.20, 1.90); CC+CG vs. GG: OR=1.60, 95% CI (1.30, 1.96); CG+GG vs. CC: OR=0.60, 95% CI (0.44, 0.83); C vs. G: OR=1.59, 95% CI (1.24, 2.03)〕. However, no association was found in Europeans〔CC vs. GG: OR=1.11, 95% CI (0.90, 1.39); GC vs. GG: OR=1.16, 95% CI (0.98, 1.37); CC+CG vs. GG: OR=1.12, 95% CI (0.96, 1.32); CG+GG vs. CC: OR=1.07, 95% CI (0.88, 1.30); C vs. G: OR=1.04, 95% CI (0.78, 1.41)〕 . Conclusion IL-6 –174C/G genetic polymorphism is associated with susceptibility to gastric cancer in Asians, which is not associated with susceptibility to gastric cancer in Europeans.