The embodiments of the invention disclose a user monitoring method and device. The method comprises the following steps: when the end time of the current update period arrives, a default algorithm is adopted to calculate the residence time of each user in a default region in network data recorded by base stations; users of which the residence time in the default region in the current update period is greater than a first threshold value are classified as a first kind of users and stored into a list of the first kind of users; users of which the residence time in the default region in the current update period is less than a second threshold value are classified as a second kind of users and stored into a list of the second kind of users; and other users except users recorded in the list of the first kind of users and the list of the second kind of users corresponding to the current update period are screened out from all users recorded in the network data, and the other users are monitored. The method and device of the invention are used to solve the problem of time and resource waste caused by identification device installation and utilization and identification chip distribution and recovery in the prior art.