A color atlas depicting the geographical patterns of death, by cause and by sex throughout Europe, at both national and subnational levels. Data from 1980/1981 and 1990/1991 are included to facilitate the detection of trends over time. Furthermore, by showing mortality rates for administrative areas within countries, the atlas allows detection of geographical differences that are concealed when national average mortality rates are used alone for the purposes of international comparisons. The atlas is the result of a project conducted by the WHO European Centre for Environment and Health in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, Statistics Netherlands, and the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands. The book opens with a description of the origin and aims of the atlas followed by an explanation of the procedures used for data collection and verification. Against this background, the book presents some 150 color maps and bar charts depicting mortality rates by cause and by sex for European countries. The use of detailed colored maps allows the quick recognition of differences in mortality rates both within and between countries. For each of the 17 major causes of death depicted bar charts rank countries according to mean standardized mortality rate and show how these rates compare with those from the previous decade. The inclusion of subnational data should facilitate the search for the causes of geographical differences in mortality, which may be related to environmental factors.