Background: During the twentieth century, Chile experienced an important reduction in general mortality.
Aim: To describe both general and infant mortality of Chile from 1909 to 2017.
Material and methods: Analysis of information about births and deaths published by the Chilean National Institute of Statistics for the period between 1909 and 2017.
Results: Both general and infant mortality rates declined sharply from the 1930s to the late 1990s. However, during the last few years, general mortality rates increased slightly. This is the first increase in over a century. Another positive aspect is that there was a dramatic decrease in mortality rate gaps across Chilean regions, for both general and infant mortality. However, intraregional inequalities in infant mortality continue to be a detrimental factor.
Conclusions: Public health efforts should be carried out to further reduce socioeconomic and regional gaps in adult and infant mortality in Chile.