OBJECTIVES: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic respiratory disease characterised by a decline in lung function over time. The objectives of this literature review were to quantify COPD burden worldwide in terms of incidence, prevalence, mortality and identify trends in these data over time, in eleven countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Here, we focus on mortality in COPD. METHODS: A structured literature search (January 2000-September 2011) of PubMed, and EMBASE was conducted to identify English-language articles reporting prevalence, incidence and/or mortality of COPD. Of 2,838 articles identified, 299 full-text articles were reviewed, and data extracted from 133 publications. RESULTS: Mortality data were extracted from 58 articles (numbers include 7 multi-country studies that provide data for specific countries): Australia (n=6); Canada (n=6); France (n=3); Germany (n=1); Italy (n=2); Japan (n=2); Netherlands (n=4); Spain (n=5); Sweden (n=7); UK (n=4); USA (n=30). In Sweden and the UK, patients with COPD were reported to have a mortality rate almost double that of the general population, and COPD mortality was two to three times greater in females than males in the Netherlands, Italy and Germany. More recently, one retrospective US study conducted in 2000-2005, reported an increase in mortality rate in women (54.4 to 56.0 per 100,000) but a decrease in men (83.8 to 77.3 per 100,000). CONCLUSIONS: This is the first structured literature review to compile data on COPD mortality. Although COPD mortality rates have increased over time, more recently rates have declined, indicating improvements in COPD management. However, the mortality rate in women with COPD has increased, while it has decreased in men. This can probably be explained by the relative differences in smoking patterns between men and women.