Lymph node staging in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is challenging and important for deciding treatment policy. The role of PET/CT scans in lymph node staging of NSCLC remains controversial when comparing TB and non-TB endemic regions. This study systematically reviews the literature regarding the diagnostic performance of PET/CT in lymph node staging of patients with NSCLC, and determines its pooled sensitivity and specificity.The databases of PubMed, Medline, and Cochrane library were searched for relevant studies. Two reviewers independently assessed the methodological quality of each study. A meta-analysis of the reported sensitivity and specificity of each study was performed.Seven of 86 studies were included. These studies had moderate to good methodological quality. Pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, and negative likelihood ratio for patient-based analyses (five studies) were 66%, 92.7%, 5.86%, and 0.41%, respectively, and those for lesion-based analyses (six studies) were 59.4%, 96.5%, 9.37%, and 0.31%, respectively. Subanalysis of endemic regions of tuberculosis (TB) showed that these regions had lower sensitivity and similar specificity to non-TB endemic regions.PET/CT showed high specificity in the lymph node staging of NSCLC and lower sensitivity in TB endemic regions.