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Objective: We used a meta-analysis framework to examine the correlation between HIF-1α gene polymorphisms and the susceptibility to digestive cancers. Methods: Cochrane Library Database, EMBASE, MEDLINE, Pubmed, CINAHL, Chinese Biomedical Database and Web of Science were searched without language restrictions to identify relevant case-control studies reporting data on HIF-1α gene polymorphisms in digestive cancers. Data was extracted from the selected studies and meta-analysis was carried out using STATA 12.0 and Comprehensive Meta-analysis 2.0 softwares. Relative risk (RR) and its 95% confidence interval (95%CI) were calculated. A total of 8 eligible case-control studies were included. These 8 studies contained a combined total of 1,276 patients diagnosed with various digestive cancers and 3,392 healthy controls. Two functional HIF-1α polymorphisms (rs11549465 C>T and rs11549467 G>A) were examined in these 8 studies. Results: Our findings demonstrated that both rs11549465 C>T and rs11549467 G>A HIF-1α polymorphisms conferred significantly increased risk of digestive cancers. However, ethnicity-stratified analysis revealed that HIF-1α rs11549465 C>T and rs11549467 G>A polymorphisms were associated with an elevated risk of digestive cancer in Asians, but not in Caucasians. These two polymorphisms also conferred different degrees of susceptibility to various digestive cancer types. Conclusion: Our meta-analysis suggests that HIF-1α rs11549465 C>T and rs11549467 G>A polymorphisms influence the pathogenesis of digestive cancers in Asians.