Objective   To analyze the death characteristics of residents in the survey area of Qinghai province in 2020, understand the causes of death and the rank of death causes, and provide scientific basis for the formulation of relevant prevention and control strategies.

  Methods   Crude mortality, standardized mortality, probability of early death and potential years of life lost (PYLL) were used to analyze the survey data of death causes in Qinghai in 2020.

  Results  In 2020, the overall mortality rate in residents in Qinghai was 613.60 /100000 (standardized rate: 813.94/100000). In urban area, the mortality rate was 607.79/100000 (standardized rate: 722.26/100000), in rural area, the mortality rate was 647.95/100000 (standardized rate: 844.03/100000), and in pastoral area, the mortality rate was 580.08/100000 (standardized rate: 854.70/100000). The mortality rate in pastoral areas was highest, followed by rural area and urban area.The top six causes of death in the residents were heart disease, malignant tumor, cerebrovascular disease, respiratory disease, injury and poisoning and digestive system diseases, causing 87.09% of the reported deaths; chronic non-communicable diseases accounted for 83.66% of all causes of death. The PYLL of major chronic diseases accounted for 48.25% of the total PYLL. The probability of premature death of major chronic diseases was 19.87%, and it was 15.74% in urban area, 21.12% in rural area and 21.02% in pastoral area. The life expectancy of residents was 73.97 years ( 71.90 years in men and 76.27 years in women).

  Conclusion   Four kinds of chronic diseases have become the main causes of death in urban, rural and pastoral areas of Qinghai. Reducing premature death and the PYLL of chronic diseases is the main goal of prevention and control of chronic diseases, and effective intervention measures should be taken.