Background: Study of human mortality indicators has a significant influence on health system planning. Therefore, a careful survey of causes of death is necessary in both national and regional levels. The aim of this survey was to study human mortalities to understand the current situation and shortcomings of death registration system in West Azerbaijan province of Iran.

Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive study, the data of all mortalities of the province during 2011 were obtained through relevant sources in Health Department of Urmia University of Medical Sciences and West Azerbaijan Legal Medicine center. Causes of death were encoded on the basis of international classification of diseases. Demographic data and statistics of vital events were obtained from websites of Statistical Center of Iran and Civil Registration Organization, respectively. Data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel and the results were reported.

Findings: In 2011, 4.1% of population and 3.77% of mortalities of Iran were related to West Azerbaijan province. Overall, 12440 death events (78.1% of provincial mortalities) had been recorded in the death registration system. The most common cause of death was cardiovascular disease. Among 1913 investigated deaths by legal medicine system, 138 were natural, 1230 were unnatural, 7 were white autopsies and in other 538 cases the cause of death was still under investigation. Conclusion: Mortality indicators of the province are approximately similar to those of other regions of the country. The main shortcomings of the death registration system are failure to register or inaccurate registration of death events. Solving these problems requires an integrated death registration system, to be developed and launched.