The present paper on head and neck cancers analyses oral cavity pharynx and larynx cancers in the database of the Italian Network of Cancer Registries (pool AIRT) during the period 1986-1997. The analysis of 7,234 oral cavity incident cases shows diverging trends between sexes; in fact, rates decrease significantly among males and increase among females. Oral cavity cancer mortality rates (3,032 deaths) significantly decrease in the period 1986-1997 in both sexes. As regards to pharynx (3,728 incident cases and 2,517 deaths), decreasing trends have been observed for both incidence and mortality, statistically significant only among males. Larynx cancers (9,842 incident cases and 3,946 deaths) showed a significant decreasing trend for both incidence and mortality, among males; trends are stable among females. In the present report we refer to head and neck cancers as those arising in the anatomical sites coded in ICDO-2 with C00-C14 (cancer of the lip, oral cavity and pharynx) and C32 (larynx). Such a grouping is justified, at least for epithelial histological types, as these cancers share a common series of risk factors: EBV, HPIV, smoke, alcohol, diet and professional exposures.