Abstract
Between the second half of the 1980s and the second half of the 2000s there was a pronounced shift in both general and specific mortality rates. Not only the total mortality rate changed, but so did its distribution by age and cause of death.
The Czech Republic experienced one of the most dramatic decreases in mortality intensity in Europe, both among men and women. Factors contributing to this were the decrease in infant mortality to a level close to the absolute minimum, which largely occurred during the 1990s, and especially the major improvement in mortality conditions among the elderly and in the case of men also among those in middle age.
The decline in mortality intensity, both in the case of women and men, was influenced most by the decrease in cardiovascular diseases.