This article analyses the mortality data used for the calculation of relative survival, within the survival study of the cases incident in 1990-1994. The mortality data used in the 14 cancer registries come from ISTAT or other official sources. Results show higher death risk for all causes of death in men and lower in women. Risk increases with age, values are generally higher in the North and lower in the Centre and the South of the country. Consistently with mortality trends, the difference between observed and relative survival is higher in older age groups, and in men rather than women, with an increasing difference the further from the date of diagnosis.