Mortality Table
Overview
A mortality table is a table that summarizes information about the time to an event, (such as death). Typically, a mortality table
states the probability of the event ocurring within in the next period of time, given that it hasnt happened up to that point.
For example, a table might show the probability of dying in the next year, given the age of the individual.
Conversion
Mortality tables can be stated in various ways. The typical example (as above) is to state the probability of the event ocurring given that
it hasnt ocurred up to some time. However, the table could also be stated in terms of frequencies, that is, for each time period,
the table states the frequency of events ocurring in that interval.
For example, the table could track N individuals, and for each age group, state the fraction of the N individuals who died in that
time period. Note the difference with the above definition. This type of table is not as standard, largely due to the issue
of censored data.
The properties of the
survival function
makes it possible to translate between the two types of tables.
Constructing a Mortality Table
