Abstract. Anthropogenic activities contribute primarily to the toxic vanadium presence in the surface environment, but quantitative assessment of its emissions from anthropogenic sources to various environmental receptors is still lacking. This study has developed nationwide vanadium emission inventory in China during 2015–2019, covering five major anthropogenic sources, including coal combustion, stationary oil burning, transportation, industrial production, and waste handling. Cumulative emission flux modelling has shown that 211094 t, 3725 t, and 0.1 t of vanadium were discharged into atmosphere, soil and water during this period. Coal combustion and stationary source of oil burning are the largest vanadium contributors, accounting for 47.5 % and 39.6 % of emission inventory. Shandong, Liaoning, Hebei, Guangdong and Hunan are among the largest provincial emitters. Emissions pertinent to raw coal combustion mainly increase by 719 t and 316 t in the provinces of North China and Northwestern China, respectively. Vanadium output pertinent to steelmaking constitutes 88.2 % emission in industrial production, and continued to increase in all regions. Emissions induced by vanadium mining shows remarkable spatial heterogeneity, with 66.1 % output determined in Southwestern China. Emissions pertinent to raw coal and coke combustion was the main source of uncertainty for the inventory development, resulting in output uncertainty ranging from -47.5 % to 63.7 % and -49.4 % to 53.7 %.