The glacial lake outburst floods （GLOFs） in the Yarkand River Basin （YRB） may cause severe disasters. In the context of global warming， establishing a GLOF database and understanding the variation characteristics of GLOFs are the basis for glacier lake research and the flood risk assessment and management. Based on the hydrological runoff data， scientific expedition data and flood disaster data， a database of Kyagar GLOFs in the YRB from 1961 to 2021 is established. Then， the frequency and peak discharge variations of GLOFs are analyzed by using statistical methods such as linear trend analysis， rescaled range analysis， accumulated anomaly analysis， Mann-Kendall test and Morlet wavelet analysis. In addition， the peak discharges under different return period scenarios are estimated by using the Multi-Distribution Fitting Tool software， and the corresponding risk assessment is conducted. The results show that the frequency and peak discharge of Kyagar GLOFs in the YRB both exhibit a unimodal pattern on the monthly timescale. The risk of GLOFs is the highest in August and September. The frequency of Kyagar GLOFs from 1961 to 2021 does not show an obvious linear trend but exhibits a decadal oscillation. The peak discharge， however， shows a significant linear decreasing trend with a rate of 15.5 m³·s^-1·a^-1， indicating that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks when utilizing floodwater resources. On the quasi-19-year period， the frequency of Kyagar GLOFs is at a low level in conjunction with a relatively low risk in the short term. It will continue to decline until around 2027， after which it will enter the next rising phase. Although there was a short-lived high-frequency period of Kyagar GLOFs due to global climate change in the early 21st century， this cannot alter the long-term oscillatory decrease trend. The Kyagar GLOFs pose a certain level of disaster risk under the 5-year return period scenario， while the disaster risk is extremely high under the 10-year or above return period scenarios. Therefore， we recommend strengthening the dynamic monitoring and risk assessment of the Kyagar Glacier Lake in the Yarkand River， as well as the research on the mechanisms of GLOFs. Additionally， we need to accelerate the construction of water conservancy projects and enhance the flood control and disaster reduction capabilities.