The aim of the present study was to assess the effects of angiotensin coverting enzyme inhibitor (ACE-I) perindopril and angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) candesartan on the survival of Dahl salt-sensitive (DS) hypertensive rats. In addition, we also studied the effects of ACE-I and ARB on LV contractile dysfunction and LV fibrosis for exploring to the mechanism contributing to the improvement of the survival. At the age of 6 weeks, the DS rats were divided into the following four groups: DS rats fed a low-salt diet (group LS); DS rats fed a high-salt diet (group HS); DS rats fed a high-salt diet and treated with perindopril [1mg/kg/day] (group HS-P), and DS rats fed a high-salt diet and treated with candesartan [1mg/kg/day] (group HS-C). At the age of 16 weeks, studies of systemic and cardiac hemodynamics, LV remodeling and LV fibrosis were then evaluated. Compared with the HS group, systolic blood pressure in both the HS-P group and the HS-C group did not significantly decrease and although the transition to systolic heart failure was inhibited, LV hypertrophy did develop in both groups. LV contractile function in both groups improved to almost the same degree as that in the LS group. The effect of perindopril was a fraction greater than that of candesartan (%FS: 49.9 ± 6.8%, 45.7 ± 5.4%, respectively) as opposed to the HS group figures of 33.9 ± 7.0%. In contrast, the 100-day survival rate in the HS-C group significantly improved compared to that in the HS-P group (100% to 40%, respectively). Histological examinations using Azan-Mallory stain demonstrated that that candesartan had more success than perindopril in decreasing LV fibrosis. The study showed that candesartan significantly improved survival rate compared to perindopril in DS hypertensive rats. Candesartan was far more successful than perindopril in decreasing LV fibrosis, which is probably a key factor in improving the survival rate for hypertensive heart failure.