The prevalence of urinary incontinence in the community-dwelling women in this country is not known. A survey, representing as multi-stage sasmple of 82,678 women aged 18 years or older, was conducted in the Taipei area from Janurary to June, 1993. A total of 818 cases were interviewed by trained students. One hundred and eighty-nine (23.1%) of the respondents reported to have had some degree of incontinence in the preceding 12 months, 28(3.4%) reporting regular incontinence. Most presented with stress urinary incontinence, whereas urge incontinenced and mixed type incontinence were more commonly seen in the elderly group (age 60 years or older). The risk factors of urinary incontinence included age, mumber of vaginal deliveries ( ≧ 3 ), number of abortions ( ≧ 2 ) and maternal history of incontinence. Voiding symptoms (irritative or obstructive) and constipation were significantly more prevalent among respondents with incontinence than those without (P＜0.001). Only 18.4% (34 cases) of those with urinary incontinence had sought medical help. The most common rationale was that either the incontinence was not thought of as abnormal (82.5%) or treatment would provide little benefit (13.5%). As the aged population continues to grow, the incidence of urinary incontinence and the ensuing problems (physical, psychosocial, and economic) are expected to be more frequent. This survey, therefore, is of importance to citizens, medical professionals, and health authorities.