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Background Lymphatic vessel density and lymphovascular invasion are commonly assessed to identify the clinicopathological outcomes in breast cancer. However, the prognostic values of them on patients’ survival are still uncertain. Methods Databases of PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science were searched from inception up to 30 June 2016. The hazard ratio with its 95% confidence interval was used to determine the prognostic effects of lymphatic vessel density and lymphovascular invasion on disease-free survival and overall survival in breast cancer. Results Nineteen studies, involving 4215 participants, were included in this study. With the combination of the results of lymphatic vessel density, the pooled hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals were 2.02 (1.69–2.40) for disease-free survival and 2.88 (2.07–4.01) for overall survival, respectively. For lymphovascular invasion study, the pooled hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals were 1.81 (1.57–2.08) for disease-free survival and 1.64 (1.43–1.87) for overall survival, respectively. In addition, 29.56% (827/2798) of participants presented with lymphovascular invasion in total. Conclusions Our study demonstrates that lymphatic vessel density and lymphovascular invasion can predict poor prognosis in breast cancer. Standardized assessments of lymphatic vessel density and lymphovascular invasion are needed. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12885-017-3338-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.