Abstract: ObjectiveTo measure the burden of diseases (BOD)among nzral people in Dafeng county with disabilityadjusted life year(DALY) and to identify major health problems and provide evidence for policy malong.MethodsIndirect estimation was used to measure BOD in Dafeng during 1997 and 2006.Time trend of BOD was analyzed.ResultsThe average DALY loss per 1000 people per year was 152.85 in 1997 to 2006.BOD of non-comm unicable diseases (NCD)accounted for 86.08% of total DALYs with 4.72% of communicable diseases and other conditions, and 9.2% of injuries During the ten years, DALY per 1000 people for three major groups of diseases showed a decreasing tendency.Among the first five causes of BOD, psychiatric illnesses, respiratory diseases and unintentional injuries presented significant decreasing trend.The BOD of malignant neoplasms appeared slightly decreasing.However, the BOD of cardiovascular diseases tended to increase.ConclusionHealth status of Dafeng ruralpeople is certainly lower than that of the developed areas in China.NCD such as psychiatric illnesses, malignant neoplasms, and cardiovascular diseases are the major health problems.It is urgent for government to make better community-based health plan and take more effective interventions on NCDs.