Objective To understand the mortality and death cause distribution in residents of Tibet and provide evidence for disease prevention and control.

Methods Based on data from the global burden of disease study (GBD2015) of China and the Nation Mortality Surveillance System, the analyses on mortality, constituent ratio, disability adjusted of life years (DALY) were conducted.

Results The crude mortality was 672.53/100 000 and the age-standardized mortality was 1 146.81/100 000. The mortality rate was higher in males than in females. Three major diseases were chronic disease (76.27%), infectious disease and maternal nutritional deficiency disease (14.64%) and injury (9.13%). The top five causes of death were cerebrovascular disease, respiratory disease, heart disease, digestive system disease and malignant tumor. The highest mortality was in age group ≥70 years（8 676.14/100 000）and the lowest mortality was in age group 5–14 years (83.94/100 000). The highest level diagnostic unit where most death cases sought medical care was class Ⅲ hospitals and deaths mainly occurred at home.

Conclusion Chronic disease was the major cause of death in Tibet, the gender and age specific mortality level and death cause rank varied, so it is necessary to conduct targeted disease prevention and control in residents in Tibet.