Methodology and Construction Overview of Life Tables

Life tables combine mortality rates of a population into a model that makes it possible to study longevity from a purely statistical viewpoint (Chiang, 1984). There are two types of life tables. Current life tables reflect the combined mortality experience of a single population at a particular time. Current tables are also referred to as period life tables. Life tables that record the mortality of a particular population over their lifetime are called cohort life table. Such life tables are based on the mortality experience of a cohort from the birth of the first cohort member to the death of the last cohort member. Life tables can either be complete providing data by every single years, or they can be abridged life tables providing data by age intervals (Anderson, 1999). The life tables produced by the Demographic Research Group at the Institute for Economic Advancement, University of Arkansas at Little Rock are abridged current life tables. Life tables are similar in appearance because they have the same life table functions, and differ only in the way the functions they are calculated. Life table definitions and functions include: x to x + n: the period of life between two exact ages