Objective To analyze all-causes of death, survival time and influencing factors of human immunodeficiency virus-infected/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV-infected/AIDS) patients in Yuxi City, Yunnan Province from 1995 to 2018. Methods Retrospective cohort study was conducted, survival rate was calculated by life table method, influencing factors for survival time was analyzed by Cox proportional hazard model. Results 4 445 HIV-infected/AIDS patients were included in the cohort, the median follow-up time was 5.2 years (IQR:2.1-9.1), 1 054 of whom died, opportunistic infection was the main cause of death, followed by drug overdose and other cardiovascular diseases, the all-cause mortality was 4.00 (95% CI:3.76-4.25)/100 person-years, median survival time was 17.83 years (95% CI:15.81-19.86), and cumulative survival rates at 1, 5, 10, 15 and 20 years were 0.89, 0.78, 0.65, 0.46 and 0.26, respectively. Cox multivariate model showed that the risks for death were as follows:men was 1.423-fold of women, 30-, 40-, 50-and ≥ 60 years old groups were 1.677-, 2.171-, 3.096-and 5.150-fold of 15-year groups, other ethnic groups was 1.170-fold of Han nationality, divorced or widowed people was 1.214-fold of unmarried people, heterosexual transmission, transmission of injecting drug use, and other transmission were 1.769-, 3.326-and 2.532-fold of men who had sexual with men respectively, the specimen sources of premarital/pregnancy/prenatal check-up, supervision place, medical institution detection and other examination were 0.575-, 0.432-, 1.413-and 0.591-fold of voluntary consultation examination respectively, at the present stage, the course of disease of HIV-infected person was 1.561-fold of AIDS patients, the baseline CD4⁺ cell levels of 200-, <200 cells/μL and unknown groups were 1.363-, 2.180-and 3.638-fold of ≥ 500 cells/μL group respectively, patients who didn't receive antiretroviral therapy (ART) was 10.410-fold of those who had received ART. Conclusion The survival time of HIV-infected/AIDS patients is affected by multiple factors, it is necessary to strengthen the early detection and treatment, pay attention to non-AIDS related death causes, and give corresponding intervention, so as to prolong the survival time of HIV-infected/AIDS patients.