Objective: To understand the prevalence and distribution of learning disabilities among middle school students in Beijing. Methods: By using stratified random cluster sampling, 6 365 students in grade one and grade two of 12 public middle schools in urban and rural in Beijing were selected. Criteria for learning disabilities included the following: on campus healthy students without serious physical and mental diseases and normal IQ assessed by combined Raven intelligence test; positive in the teacher rated Screening Scale for Middle School Students with Learning Disabilities; percentile ranking (below the bottom 10% percentile of grade) of the academic performance in the Chinese, mathematics and English tests. Results: The learning disabilities of the subjects were determined by the teachers and it was found that the score of words reading, reading understanding, words spell, written expression, number calculation, mathematical reasoning and the total score of the scale were respectively (20.78±4.00, 18.16 ±4.35, 21.50±3.89, 20.06±3.92, 21.12±5.23. 18.67±5.35, 120.28±19.99) points. There were differences in the total score of learning ability between urban and rural areas, gender and grade. Urban area was better than rural area, girls were better than boys, and junior two students were better than junior one students( t=12.94, 9.94, 3.07, P <0.05). A total of 445(7%) students with learning disabilities were detected. Reading disabilities accounted for 5.0%, dysgraphia 2.7% and math disabilities 4.6%. Prevalence of learning ability differed by urban rural regions, gender and grade, with girls and students from urban areas and grade two being significantly lower( t =12.94, 9.94, 3.07, P <0.05). Conclusion The prevalence of learning disabilities in middle school students is high, which needs more attention.