OBJECTIVES: Diabetes influences bone metabolism, but the relation of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) with bone mineral density (BMD) remains inconsistent across studies. The objective of this study was to perform a meta-analysis to estimate the difference in BMD between T1DM and non-diabetic populations. METHODS: Studies were selected by doing comprehensive literature search in PubMed and EMBASE up to January 2014. Additional searches were also conducted to include research abstracts, cross references and bibliography of individual articles. All studies, including cross-sectional, cohort or case–control design, showing association between T1DM and BMD measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) were considered eligible for the review. A random effects meta-analysis was performed. Heterogeneity and publication bias were checked. Results are expressed as Pearson correlations.  RESULTS: The analysis was done on 48 observational studies reporting 2,885 cases and 4,814 controls. Meta-analysis showed that BMD in T1DM patients was significantly lower, with pooled mean differences of -0.43 (95% CI: -0.69, -0.17) in women and -0.25 (95% CI: -0.50, -0.005) in men at the hip region. It was also found significantly lower at the spine region [-0.30 (95% CI: -0.47, -0.13)] in men and forearm region [-0.21 (95% CI: -0.43, 0.00)] in women. No siginificant difference was found in BMD (in both men and women) between in case of femoral neck region. Sensitivity analysis confirmed the stability of our results. CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis confirmed that both men and women with T1DM have preponderence to have lower BMD levels. Multiple factors (age/gender/menopausal status/bone type) can influence BMD in individuals with T1DM. Large prospective epidemiological studies are required to confirm our findings.