Leibniz et la table de mortalité

Leibniz and the Mortality Table Leibniz was interested in questions of population. Among the writings which he has left on this subject, the most remarkable is the Application of some new observations concerning the human life and the number of men which seems to have been composed between 1680 and 1689. It was written, then, considerably after the pioneering work of J. Graunt, but well before E. Halley had constructed the first real mortality table. Having chosen a very arbitrary hypothesis, Leibniz demonstrates how to calculate the average life span of human beings, the life expectancy of a given age, the corresponding mortality quotients, the gross mortality rate, and even defines, in general terms, the characteristics of a fixed population. However, when he does have the opportunity to make use of the observations of pastor K. Newmann which would have permitted him to construct a real table, he does not seize this occasion. Perhaps an understanding of the principles was more important for him than the actual knowledge.Dupaquier Jacques. Leibniz et la table de mortalité. In: Annales. Economies, sociétés, civilisations. 40ᵉ année, N. 1, 1985. pp. 136-143