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AbstractBackground: pneumonia is one of the main causes of death in infancy in the world. InAngola is the second cause, being overcome only by malaria. Empyema is a commoncomplication of pneumonia. Objectives: to describe the epidemiological, clinical,radiographic and laboratorial aspects of children admitted by pleural empyema inAngola, during September 2004 to March 2005. Methods: a prospective case series wasdone in a tertiary paediatric hospital, with 140 children. Results: median of age was 20month, chronic malnutrition occurred in 57.1% of cases, being 21% severe. Vaccinationschedule was complete in 66.2%. The median of maternal schooling was four years. Themost frequent symptom was: fever, cough, dyspnoea e tachypnea. Chest radiographshowed severe effusion with mediastinal shift in 65.7% of cases. Mean haemoglobinwas 7.1g/dl. The most frequent bacteria found in pleural fluid were S. pneumoniae andH. influenzae. The mean duration of fever after admission was seven days; the mediantime of tube insertion was 15 days and hospitalization time 25 days. Complicationsoccurred in 36.4% of cases, being pneumothorax the most frequent (54.9%). The casefatalitywas 7.9%. Malnutrition and time of hospitalization were statistic associated withdeath. The haemoglobin’s level and low maternal schooling reflected a severitysocioeconomic situation of the population.Keywords: pleural empyema, children, death, case series.