Yao'an County is one of the counties under the jurisdiction of Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province. The county is located in the northwest of Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province, bordering Mouding County in the east, Nanhua County in the south, Dayao County in the north, and Xiangyun County in Dali across the Paojiang River in the west, covering a total area of 1803 square kilometers. Yao'an County is 230 kilometers away from Kunming, 75 kilometers away from Chuxiong, and 190 kilometers away from Panzhihua City, Sichuan Province. It has jurisdiction over 6 towns and 3 townships, with a total area of 1803 square kilometers. According to the data of the seventh population census, as of 0:00 on November 1, 2020, the permanent population of Yao'an County was 164165.

The main scenic spots in Yao'an County include Defeng Temple, Longhua Temple, Yangpai Reservoir and other scenic spots. On September 29, 2018, Yao'an County was approved to withdraw from the poverty-stricken county after being studied by Yunnan Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government. On February 2, 2019, it was rated by the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine as an advanced unit in the work of traditional Chinese medicine at the national grass-roots level at the county level.

In 2020, the gross regional product of Yao'an County will reach 7.429 billion yuan, an increase of 6.4% over the previous year, and 106.1% of the tasks expected in the 13th Five-Year Plan will be completed.