Objectives: To prospectively examine associations between accelerometer‐measured physical activity (PA) and mortality in older women, with an emphasis on light‐intensity PA. Design: Prospective cohort study with baseline data collection between March 2012 and April 2014. Setting: Women's Health Initiative cohort in the United States. Participants: Community‐dwelling women aged 63 to 99 (N = 6,382). Measurements: Minutes per day of usual PA measured using hip‐worn triaxial accelerometers, physical functioning measured using the Short Physical Performance Battery, mortality follow‐up for a mean 3.1 years through September 2016 (450 deaths). Results: When adjusted for accelerometer wear time, age, race‐ethnicity, education, smoking, alcohol, self‐rated health, and comorbidities, relative risks (95% confidence intervals) for all‐cause mortality across PA tertiles were 1.00 (referent), 0.86 (0.69, 1.08), 0.80 (0.62, 1.03) trend P = .07, for low light; 1.00, 0.57 (0.45, 0.71), 0.47 (0.35, 0.61) trend P < .001, for high light; and, 1.00, 0.63 (0.50, 0.79), 0.42 (0.30, 0.57) trend P < .001, for moderate‐to‐vigorous PA (MVPA). Associations remained significant for high light‐intensity PA and MVPA (P < .001) after further adjustment for physical function. Each 30‐min/d increment in light‐intensity (low and high combined) PA and MVPA was associated, on average, with multivariable relative risk reductions of 12% and 39%, respectively (P < .01). After further simultaneous adjusting for light intensity and MVPA, the inverse associations remained significant (light‐intensity PA: RR = 0.93, 95% CI = 0.89–0.97; MVPA: RR = 0.67, 95% CI = 0.58–0.78). These relative risks did not differ between subgroups for age or race and ethnicity (interaction, P ≥ .14, all). Conclusion: When measured using accelerometers, light‐intensity and MVPA are associated with lower mortality in older women. These findings suggest that replacing sedentary time with light‐intensity PA is a public health strategy that could benefit an aging society and warrants further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]