BACKGROUND Type-specific persistence of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection can cause invasive cervical cancer. The distribution and prevalence of HPV genotypes depend on the geographic region and on demographic factors. METHODS This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and distribution of HPV genotypes in uterine cervical lesions in Liaoning Province, China. A total of 1444 cervical swabs from patients with cervical cancer (CC, n = 134), cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) II/III (n = 517), and CIN I (n = 180) were detected for HPV genotypes using the PGMY09/11 primer system and HPV GenoArray test (HybriBio Ltd., Hong Kong). Age-matched samples of 613 women without cervical neoplasia were analyzed as control. RESULTS The prevalence of HPV was 82.84% in CC, 89.56% in CIN II/III, 70.56% in CIN I, and 44.70% in control. The 5 leading genotypes in CIN II/III were, in descending order of prevalence, HPV types 16 (61.12%), 58 (14.12%), 33 (13.93%), 31 (8.32%), and 52(6.27%); whereas HPV types 16 (73.13%), 18 (7.46%), 58 (3.73%), and 31/33/39 (all were 2.24%) were in CC. Multiple HPV infections comprising 2 to 5 types were found in 17.59% of the patients. Human papillomavirus 16 was the predominant genotype in all categories. The prevalence of both HPV type 16 and single HPV infection increased with the severity of cervical lesions (P = 0.000). CONCLUSIONS The efficacy of the prophylactic vaccine against types 16 and 18 for preventing cervical cancer would be close to 80% in Liaoning Province, China. Human papillomavirus types 16, 18, 58, 33, and 31 may be predominant high-risk factors for CC and its precursors in this region.