The interleukin 23 receptor (IL-23R) polymorphisms have been already discussed in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) repeatedly, but the results are conflict. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to assess whether IL-23R gene polymorphisms are associated with RA. We retrieved the available data from Pubmed, Medline, CNKI and CBM. Our study evaluated the effects of two polymorphisms (rs10489629, rs7517847) in European population. Pooling all the subjects, we found significant associations between the two polymorphisms and RA. For rs10489629, the pooled ORs (95 % CI) of C versus T, C/C+C/T versus T/T and C/C versus C/T+T/T were 1.092 (1.038-1.149), 1.146 (1.059-1.240) and 1.099 (1.008-1.199), respectively. For rs7517847, the combined ORs (95 % CI) of G versus T, G/G+G/T versus T/T and G/G versus G/T+T/T were 1.121 (1.063-1.183), 1.184 (1.092-1.283) and 1.133 (1.030-1.246), respectively. In conclusion, this meta-analysis demonstrates that the polymorphisms rs10489629 and rs7517847 of the IL-23R gene may be considered as risk factors for developing RA in European population.