Objective To analyze the epidemiological characteristics of injury deaths and potential years of life lost (PYLL) of residents in Yangpu District of Shanghai, so as to provide reference for developing injury intervention strategies.Methods The causes of injury deaths of residents in Yangpu District of Shanghai from 2002 to 2020 were collected. Excel 2010 and SPSS 21.0 were used to sort out and analyze the data, and Joinpoint linear regression was used to analyze the mortality trend. The mortality was standardized by utilizing the Segi’s world standard population age composition in 1985.Results A total of 6 377 cases of injury deaths were reported in Yangpu District of Shanghai from 2002 to 2020, with an average annual crude mortality rate of 31.03/100 000 and an average annual standardized mortality rate of 15.00/100 000. There was no significant difference between males and females in crude mortality rate of injury (Z＝0.845, P＞0.05), while the standardized mortality rate was significantly higher in males than in females (Z＝2.171, P＜0.05). The crude mortality rate (average annual percent change＝－2.0, P＜0.01) and standardized mortality rate (annual percent change＝－4.4, P＜0.01) showed a downward trend. The top 5 causes of injury deaths, which accounting for 89.85% (5 730/6 377) of the total injury deaths, were accidental fall, other accidents and harmful effects, motor vehicle traffic accidents, suicide and accidental poisoning, respectively. The mortality rate of injury increased gradually with the age. The mortality rate of the age group between 0 and 14 years old was the lowest (4.12/100 000), and the mortality rate of the age group 65 years old and over was the highest (110.00/100 000). The top 5 injury types in PYLL with a total of 46 325 person years were suicide, motor vehicle traffic accident, accidental fall, accidental poisoning and drowning, respectively, accounting for 80.12% of total PYLL.Conclusion Injury is one of the most important public health problems affecting the health and life span of residents in Yangpu District of Shanghai. Personalized intervention measures should be taken according to the injury types for different population to effectively reduce the losses caused by injury.