Introduction - This article presents the characteristics of mortality in France in 2008, including the leading causes of death by sex and age and trends since the year 2000. Methods - The data are drawn from the national database of medical causes of death maintained by the Center for Epidemiology of Medical Causes of Death (Inserm-CépiDc). This database is compiled from data on medical death certificates completed by physicians at the time of death. Since 2000, causes of death have been coded according to the 10th revision of the WHO’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10). The data presented concern the underlying causes of death, selected according to WHO guidelines. Results - In 2008, there were 543,139 deaths in France. Cancers remain the leading cause of death, accounting for 29.6% of all deaths, and, together with circulatory system diseases (27.5%), accidents (4.6%), Alzheimer’s disease (3.2%), diabetes (2.2%), suicide (1.9%), dementia (1.8%), and chronic liver disease (1.7%), for more than 70% of deaths in France. The ranking of causes of death varies significantly by sex and age. It also changed between 2000 and 2008, but primarily for women. (R.A.)