In the French population aged 35-64, cancer mortality increased yearly by 1 percent in males and decreased yearly by 0.6 percent in females between 1950 and 1989. In males, the increase is mostly due to the sites associated with tobacco and alcohol. The important increase of lung cancer is related to the increase in tobacco consumption from 4.7 g per adult per day in 1950 to 6.3 g in 1976. The increase observed in head and neck cancers is related to tobacco and alcohol. In females, the moderate decrease is due to the decrease observed in uterine cervix and stomach cancer mortality, uncompensated by the increase in breast cancer. Contrary to what is observed in the USA, there is no marked increase in lung cancer mortality for women.