Abstract: Objective To study chief causes of death of townspeople in Chongqing in the 1990's.Methods Mortality rate,disease-specific mortality rate,valued years of potential life lost(VYPLL)and years of life lost(YLLs)were used to analyze causes of death.Results The annual average mortality rate of the residents was 6.28‰(standard mortality rate 4.07‰).The sequence of major five causes of death was shown as follows:malignant tumours,cerebrovascular diseases,respiratory system diseases,cardiac diseases and accidental deaths.According to VYPLL,the sequence of major five causes of death is shown as follows:accidental deaths,malignant tumors,respiratory system diseases,digestive system diseases and cerebrovascular diseases;In the commercial community the third cause of death was mental disease.According to burden of disease,the proportion of YLLs is shown as bellow:chronic non-infectious diseases(80.16%),accidental injuries(13.06%)and infectious diseases(including gynecology and perinatal diseases).Conclusion The chronic non-infectious diseases and accidental injuries should be determined as focal point in prevention and treatment.The prevention and treatment of infectious diseases should not be relaxed.The mental health work should be developed actively.