ABSTRACT Depression is one of the most common disorders in the elderly. The problem in the elderly remains largely obscured and left untreated though leads to exacerbation of the disorder. The present study aimed to determine the prevalence of depressive symptoms in the elderly population of Amir-Kola city in 2012. 1600 elderly individuals living in AmirKola city were entered in the cross-sectional study. Information such as age, sex, duration of disease , marital status, income, etc. was acquired. Depressive symptoms was obtained with a 15-items Geriatric Depression Scale questionnaire. The effects of risk factors on the prevalence of depressive symptoms were evaluated statistically with chi-square test and Logistic regression analysis. 9 05 participants (56.6%) had normal condition, and 6 95 participants (43.4%) had some symptoms of depression. Of these, 437 (27.3%) had mild depression, 177 (11.1%) moderate depression and 81 (5.1%) showed symptoms of severe depression. Variables, female sex (p<0.0001), diabetes (p<0.004), lack of common life with spouse (p<0.002) and having cognitive impairment (p<0.000 1) significantly affects the prevalence of depression.#