The loss of productive years for premature death (15-59 years) due to cerebrovascular diseases (CVD) was estimated on the basis of official mortality statistics for Brasil, 1985. Estimations were made for the 5 macro-regions of the country - North, Northeast, Southeast, South and Midwest, as well as for selected capital cities located in each of the regions, respectively: Belém, Salvador, São Paulo, Porto Alegre and Brasilia. Men lost 158,194 years of productive life while the loss for women was 128,905 years. The average of years lost/person varied between 11.5 (South) and 13.4 (Midwest) for males and between 12.9 (North) and 14.1 (Midwest) for females. The proportions of productive years lost were greater for women in all five regions. In the capital cities, the average loss of years were similar to the respective macro-regions, although for Salvador there was an increase for both genders as compared to the Northeast. The social costs of such premature deaths is then discussed, estimating a potential reduction of 200,000 years from the total losses, in case of treatment and control of high blood pressure in the Brazilian population.