BackgroundMaternal mental health in the postpartum period is essential for the optimal development of the newborn and appropriate breastfeeding practices. Despite this, a shortage of concrete evidence exists regarding the magnitude of postpartum depression and associated factors. This meta-analysis study was therefore done to fill such a gap.MethodsPubMed, Scopus, and EMBASE were investigated with no time limitation. A manual search for a reference list of articles was also done. Relevant data were extracted using Meta XL package and analysis was done Stata-11 meta-prop package. Heterogeneity was checked with Cochran's Q-statistics and the Higgs I2 test. Furthermore, sub-group and sensitivity analyses were done. Egger's test and funnel plots tests were engaged to identify publication bias.ResultsA total of 16 studies that assessed 11400 postpartum women in Ethiopia were included. The average estimated prevalence of postpartum depression was 21.9% (95% CI: 18.98, 24.77). The pooled prevalence of postpartum depression was higher in studies that used SRQ-20; 24.6% (95% CI: 18.42, 30.84) than studies that used PHQ-9; 18.9% (95% CI: 11.52, 26.28). Moreover, the pooled estimated prevalence of postpartum depression was slightly higher in the southern part of Ethiopia (22.6%) than Addis Ababa (21.2%). Poor marital relation (pooled aOR = 3.56) (95% CI: 2.50, 4.63), unplanned pregnancy (pooled aOR = 3.48) (95% CI: 2.18, 4.79), previous history of depression (pooled aOR = 4.33) (95% CI: 2.26, 6.59), poor social support (pooled aOR = 4.5) (95% CI: 3.34, 5.56), domestic violence (pooled aOR = 3.77) (95% CI: 2.62, 4.92), family history of mental illness (pooled aOR = 4) (95% CI:1.56, 6.56), use of substance (pooled aOR = 4.67) (95% CI:4.00, 5.34), low income (pooled aOR = 2.87) (95% CI: 1.59, 4.14), stressful life event (pooled aOR = 3.5) (95% CI: 1.39, 5.87) and perinatal complications (pooled aOR = 3.8)( 95% CI: 1.45, 6.15) were among the associated factors for postpartum depression in Ethiopia.ConclusionMore than one in five women was with postpartum depression and factors such as poor marital relations, history of depression, poor social support, domestic violence, unplanned pregnancy, family history of mental illness were related to it. Therefore, maternal postnatal care services should be geared to incorporate this public essential health concern.