Rice is one of the most important food crops in Yunnan. The summary and analysis of the approved rice varieties can provide reference for new rice varieties breeding in Yunnan in the future. In this study, the main characters of parents, yield, quality and disease resistance of 559 rice varieties approved in Yunnan province from 1983 to 2021 were analyzed and evaluated. The results showed that the number of approved rice varieties exhibited an upward trend year by year. The parental diversity of hybrid rice and conventional rice was basically the same, and the parental diversity did not increase with the increase of the number of approved varieties. The yield of hybrid rice (non upland rice) and conventional rice (non upland rice) fluctuated slightly, and the yield of upland rice showed an increasing trend. In the recently 12 years (2010—2021), the good quality rate of rice varieties was 35.71%, few varieties have reached the first grade, high chalkiness was the most important limiting factor affecting the improvement of rice quality. In general, the rice blast resistance decreased, bacterial blight resistance was better than that of rice blast. The proportion of susceptible and highly susceptible varieties to sheath blight remained below 15.00%, the proportion of susceptible and highly susceptible varieties to rice false smut fluctuated between 17.00%-52.00%.