Recent changes in the cause of death among the Korean population seem to be systematic and significant. Data on cause of death from the medically certified death certificates provide at least four types of evidence: a sudden increase in recent years in the numbers of death due to cerebrovascular disease or circulatory diseases including rheumatic fever and chronic heart diseases and atherosclerosis; increasing steadily in the numbers of death due to malignant neoplasm of various sites, and death due to accident; decreasing steadily in the numbers of death due to communicable diseases or parasite diseases; and a large number of deaths with unspecified symptoms and ill-defined conditions. The lack of complete registration of the deads occurred or the incomplete description on the cause of death reported suggests that statistical information of cause of death from the medically certified death records is meaningful in interpreting changing patterns.