Mortality table

A mortality table (also called survival table) is a construction which makes it possible to thoroughly follow the destiny of a Population. This tool is especially used in Démographie and Actuariat in order to studied the number of deaths, the Probabilités of death or survival and the Life expectancy according to the age and the sex. There exist two types of mortality tables: the mortality table of the moment and the mortality table by generation.

Mortality table of the moment

A mortality table of the moment is carried out by constituting a generation (or troop) fictitious including all the population of an unspecified area at one exact moment in time. This fictitious generation counts 100.000 individuals arbitrarily. Those are then subjected to the conditions of mortality which prevail at the selected time. For each age bracket (generally by jump of 1 year, 5 years or 10 years), one applies the quotients of mortality (qx) in order to determine the following statistics:
  • the number of deaths (dx) per age bracket
  • the number of survivors (lx) per age bracket
  • the number of years lived (Lx) by the all individuals of the troop during the interval of selected age (1 year, 5 years, or 10 years)
  • the remaining number of years at living (Tx) for all the individuals of the troop
  • the Life expectancy (ex) according to the age

Mortality table by generation

A mortality table by generation is carried out same manner as a mortality table of the moment to the difference as, instead of constituting a fictitious generation, one builds the table by observing the real levels of mortality of a particular generation (for example the generation born in 1850). A mortality table by generation thus has the advantage of being more representative of reality but has as disadvantage until one must wait the extinction of a generation before building it. For example, for the generation born in 1960, unless having recourse to Projections of mortality, it should be waited until each individual of the troop dies for thus applying the probabilities of deaths which really occurred at each age.

External bonds

  • Database on Canadian longevity
  • The Human Mortality Database
  • New mortality tables by generation in Canada and Quebec, 1801-1991

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