Background Home and leisure injuries (HLIs) have a high impact on health.

Aims The aims of this study were to characterize HLI mortality for France in 2016 by sex, age, type, lesion, place of death, geographic region, and its main evolutions from 2012 to 2016.

Methods We used the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, to code the causes of death from the French mortality database. We expressed results in numbers, crude death rates, specific death rates by sex and age, and age-adjusted death rates.

Results In 2016, we recorded 24,211 deaths due to HLIs. Deaths due to HLIs occurred mainly at an elderly age with 79% of all cases. Falls represented nearly half of all HLI deaths, of which two-thirds concerned those over 65 years.

HLIs were the first cause of death among children aged 1 to 4 years representing 20% of total deaths. Children under 15 were mainly victims of suffocations and drownings. The number of deaths related to HLIs increased by 10% between 2012 and 2016 with a 13% increase in the elderly and a 10% decrease in children.

Conclusion This study provides increased knowledge on fatal HLIs characteristics in France. We could avoid many deaths due to HLIs with adapted prevention measures. The decrease of HLI mortality in children could be partly attributed to effective prevention campaign and reinforcement of children products regulation.

Learning Outcomes Describe the latest available HLI mortality statistics in France

Identify the main results for HLI prevention campaigns to reduce health inequalities