Embodiments of the present invention disclose a mobility management method, user equipment, and a base station. The mobility management method may include: receiving, by user equipment UE in a connected mode, a source identifier of the UE from a first base station, where the source identifier is used to uniquely identify the UE in the first base station; entering, by the UE, a low-overhead state after a low-overhead activation condition is satisfied, where in the low-overhead state, the UE stores a connection context of the UE in the connected mode, and camps on a cell according to a cell reselection criterion during movement; and reporting, by the UE when a first preset condition is satisfied, the source identifier to a second base station to which a second cell belongs, where the second cell is a serving cell on which the UE currently camps. According to the present invention, the UE autonomously performs mobility based on cell reselection after the UE enters the low-overhead state, and reports only location change information of the UE, thereby simplifying a handover procedure and reducing communication resources of a network device