Abstract. Natural radiative lifetimes of 10 levels of singly ionized ytterbium have been measured with time-resolved laser spectroscopy. Free Yb + ions were produced in a laser-induced plasma. A stimulated Brillouin scattering technique has been used to produce laser pulses as short as 1 ns for the excitation of short-lived Yb + states. Pseudo-relativistic Hartree-Fock calculations, taking into account the core-polarization effects, have also been performed. A good agreement of the measured and the calculated lifetime values has been achieved.