Abstract: The present invention provides a method, an apparatus, and a system for paging a terminal. The method includes: obtaining, by a core network element, mobility information or service information of a terminal; determining, by the core network element, a paging range of the terminal according to the mobility information of the terminal and correspondence between the mobility information and the paging range, or determining, by the core network element, a paging range of the terminal according to the service information of the terminal and correspondence between the service information and the paging range, where the paging range includes: a single cell, a single base station, multiple cells, multiple base stations, or a location area; and paging, by the core network element, the terminal according to the paging range of the terminal. The present invention can reduce paging processing of an irrelevant cell or base station, and save network resources.