Violent deaths include those by accident (in traffic or otherwise), suicide and homicide. The present article studies, for different age groups (children, adolescents, youth, adults and elderly), the evolution of violent death rates in Switzerland over a ten-year period, on the basis of the data collected by the Federal Office for Statistics. These rates show two peaks, in the 15-24 age group and in the elderly (70-74 years of age). From 1 year to 35 years of age, violence is the most common cause of death. From 1970 to 1980, violent death rates tended to decrease for all the age groups considered except the 15-24 year olds, for whom it increased. This last trend is particularly marked for females, so that the difference between violent death rates in women and men is narrowing. Methodological aspects of studies of this kind are discussed, comparisons are drawn with research in other countries and some practical implications of our results are presented.