The present invention relates to the technical field of communications, and in particular, to the technology of obtaining a roaming number of a callee based on an HLR system and fetching the roaming number of the callee from a visited MSC. The invention provides a distributed HLR system and a method for obtaining a roaming number of a callee, the method includes: determining, by a user database device of a distributed HLR system, an HLR front end corresponding to an identification number according to the corresponding relationship information after obtaining the identification number of a callee from a received SRI request message, sending a PRN request message of the callee via the determined HLR front end, and obtaining a roaming number of the callee from a returned PRN response message. After a user database device of a distributed HLR system receives an SRI request message, an HLR front end on which an MAP process of the callee takes place is taken as the exit of the PRN request message, so that the path through which the PRN request message reaches the MSC on which the callee registers may be shortened, the network resources may be saved, and the time delay of a service may be reduced.