Total mortality has been analysed for elderly Swedish men and women by social class. Information on social and demographic factors was obtained from the 1960 Population Census. The mortality was followed up from 1961 to 1979. The study indicates that there are evident social class differences in mortality among people aged 65-83 years. We found increasing class differences with increased age among women, but decreasing class differences with increased age among men. Also, the class gradients before retirement age were steeper than after that age. The opposite was true for women, where the class gradient was more evident among older women than among younger ones. The class gradients were less marked for married than for other marital status groups and the class gradients were steepest in areas with a high degree of urbanization.