Introduction - The year 2020 was marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, which had direct and potentially indirect effects on mortality. This study describes the main indicators of mortality by cause in 2020 and compares them with those observed in 2015–2017. Methods - Based on death certificates for residents who died in mainland France and in the overseas departments and regions (DROM) in 2020 and 2015–2017 (reference period), medical causes were coded according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10 version 19) and the rules of the World Health Organization. The underlying causes of all deaths were grouped according to the European list of causes of death, to which a specific category for COVID-19 was added. The number of deaths and mortality rates standardized to Eurostat’s European Standard Population were analyzed by cause, age group, and sex. Results - With approximately 69,000 deaths, COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death in France in 2020, behind tumors and diseases of the circulatory system. Excluding COVID-19, mortality rates for the main causes of death were mostly declining compared to trends from 2015–2017. Discussion - The number of deaths due to COVID-19 exceeds the excess deaths from all causes estimated by the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) (47,000) because mortality excluding COVID-19 is declining. This suggests competition between COVID-19 and other major causes (tumors, circulatory system diseases), as well as a protective effect—particularly against respiratory and infectious diseases and transportation accidents—linked to the preventive measures implemented during the health crisis. However, other impacts of this epidemic and its context cannot be ruled out, which means the analysis will need to be repeated once more data becomes available.