Objective The objective of this paper was to show the analysis of mortality and morbidity from injuries by external causes (V01-Y98; ICD-10) in Croatia in the period 2004–2008, as a contribution to the knowledge of this public health problem.

Materials and Methods Routine health morbidity and mortality statistics and WHO/HFA database were used and expressed as percentage shares, PYLLs as well as crude and standardised rates.

Results On Croatias mortality scale in period 2004–2008 injuries with an average share of 5.7% in total mortality ranked third (2006 and 2008) or fourth (2004 and 2005) behind cardiovascular diseases, neoplasms and respiratory diseases. General mortality (average rate: 65.3/100 000) for injuries did not change significantly between 2004 and 2008. Given the premature mortality indicator potential years of life lost (age: 1–75) injuries ranked third, following after neoplasms and cardiovascular diseases. Suicides, traffic accidents and falls are the leading external causes of death. The standardised injury mortality for all ages was 53.3/100 000 in Croatia in 2006 (last available comparative data from WHO/HFA-DB). It surpassed the EU average (40.4/100 000), but remained lower than the European region average (76/100 000). With an average share of 7.9% in the causes of hospital treatment, injuries ranked sixth. Falls accounted for one third of the causes of injury-related hospitalisations, most commonly in persons older than 65.

Conclusion Because they account for a large part of total mortality and morbidity, injuries represent a major public health problem in Croatia. A systematic implementation of preventive programmes is thus required.