Our aim was to determine the effect of a national strategy for quality improvement in cancer management (the “Plan Cancer”) according to time period and to assess the influence of type and volume of hospital activity on in-hospital mortality (IHM) within a large national cohort of patients operated on for lung cancer.From January 2005 to December 2013, 76 235 patients were included in the French Administrative Database. Patient characteristics, hospital volume of activity and hospital type were analysed over three periods: 2005–2007, 2008–2010 and 2011–2013.Global crude IHM was 3.9%: 4.3% during 2005–2007, 4% during 2008–2010 and 3.5% during 2011–2013 (p<0.01). 296, 259 and 209 centres performed pulmonary resections in 2005–2007, 2008–2010 and 2011–2013, respectively (p<0.01). The risk of death was higher in centres performing <13 resections per year than in centres performing >43 resections per year (adjusted (a)OR 1.48, 95% CI 1.197–1.834). The risk of death was lower in the period 2011–2013 than in the period 2008–2010 (aOR 0.841, 95% CI 0.764–0.926). Adjustment variables (age, sex, Charlson score and type of resection) were significantly linked to IHM, whereas the type of hospital was not.The French national strategy for quality improvement seems to have induced a significant decrease in IHM.