Effective identification and timely warning of the risk of returning to poverty is the prerequisite for preventing the povertyrelieved population from returning to poverty.In this paper,the livelihood vulnerability analytical framework is used to build the risk assessment system in ethic areas and the statistics in southwestern ethnic areas are calculated to evaluate the risk of the povertyrelieved families’ returning to poverty,on which an early warning mechanism is built.The following conclusions are drawn:(1) The risk of returning to poverty of poverty relieved families is mainly concentrated in human resource risk and financial risk,with a certain degree of highcomplexity of natural,material,and social risks.(2) The early warning mechanism for povertyreturning of poverty relieved families should be combined with the degree 〖JP+3〗of warning and warning sources,continuously measure their livelihood at different risk levels,evaluate the effectiveness of policies,and optimize the improvement program.Therefore,from the perspective of the subject,the governments in ethnic areas should make different policies on different risk levels; from the perspective of objective,the five major risks of returning to poverty need to be dealt with in a timely manner and clearly directed; from a regional perspective,efforts should be focused on improving the local conditions and exploring local advantages to provide a diversity of strategies for poverty relieved families.