Vacancy-induced magnetism in perovskite SrTiO 3 is investigated by ab initio calculations and magnetic measurements. The calculations of the generalized gradient approximation (GGA), the local density approximation (LDA) and the local density approximation with on-site effect U (LDA+U) methods show that stoichiometric SrTiO 3 is nonmagnetic. The GGA calculated results indicate that Ti or O vacancy could induce magnetism rather than Sr vacancy. The LDA and LDA+U calculations show that the Ti vacancy could induce magnetism, while Sr and O vacancies couldn't. The experimental results confirm that SrTiO 3 nanocrystalline powders exhibit room-temperature ferromagnetism (FM) and the magnetic moment results from cation vacancies.