Background and aims Injuries are a huge and largely preventable public health problem. After the first year of life injuries are the leading cause of children’s death before malignant diseases, congenital malformations and all other causes. For the adolescents injuries are even bigger problem. The aim of the study was to analyse the proportion of deaths caused by injuries among Croatian 15–19 years old male adolescents.

Methods We analysed deaths of adolescents aged 15–19 years who died because of injuries from 1995 through 2012. Vital statistics mortality data from the Republic of Croatia Central Bureau of Statistics prepared by the Croatian National Institute of Public Health were used.

Results Among all causes of death for the age group 1–19 years injuries took highest proportion: in 1995 62%, and in 2012 53%. For males 15–19 years in 1995 injuries took 72%, in 2012 76%. In 1995 in the age group 15–19 there were 168 injury caused fatalities (rate 50,76 per 100 000); out of them 125 (rate 73,98) were male and 43 (rate 26,54) were female. In 2012 there were 46 (rate 18,69) fatalities; out of them were 38 (rate 30,10) male and 8 (rate 6,65) female.

Conclusions In the analysed period significant decrease occurred regarding the total number of fatalities as well as the rate caused by injuries but proportion of death caused by injuries for males aged 15–19 increased. Targeted interventions tailored for this specific group are necessary to reduce the burden of injuries for male adolescents.