International audience ; Background: The world¡¦s growing population of asylum seekers faces different health risks than the populations of their host countries due to pre- and post-migration risk factors. We currently lack insight into their health status. Methods: We designed a unique notification system to monitor mortality in Dutch asylum seeker centres (2002-2005). Results: Standardized for age and sex, the overall mortality rate among asylum seekers shows no difference with the Dutch population. However, rates differ between subpopulations by sex, age and region of origin and by cause of death. Mortality among asylum seekers was higher than among the Dutch reference population at younger ages and lower at ages above 40. The most frequent causes of death groups among asylum seekers are cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and external causes. We found increased mortality due to infectious diseases (males SMR=5.44; 95% CI 3.22-8.59, females SMR=7.53; 95% CI 4.22-12.43), external causes (males SMR=1.95; 95% CI; 0.52-2.46, females SMR=1.60; 95% CI 0.87-2.68), and congenital anomalies in females (SMR 2.42; 95% CI 1.16-4.45). Considerable differences were found between regions of origin. Maternal mortality was increased (rate ratio 10.08; 95% CI 8.02-12.83) as a result of deaths among African women. Conclusion: Subgroups of asylum seekers by age, sex and region of origin, are at increased risk for certain causes of death in comparison to the host population. Policies and services for asylum seekers should address both causes for which asylum seekers are at increased risk and causes with large absolute mortality, taking into account differences between subgroups.