In actuarial science and demography, a life table (also called a mortality table or actuarial table) is a table which shows, for each age, what the probability is that a person of that age will die before his or her next birthday ("probability of death"). From this starting point, a number of inferences can be derived.
- the probability of surviving any particular year of age
- remaining life expectancy for people at different ages
Life tables are also used extensively in biology and epidemiology. The concept is also of importance in product life cycle management.
Read more about Life Table: Background, Insurance Applications, The Mathematics, Ending A Mortality Table, Epidemiology
Famous quotes containing the words life and/or table:
“Only man thinning out his kind
sounds through the Sabbath noon, the blind
swipe of the pruner and his knife
busy about the tree of life . . .”
—Robert Lowell (1917–1977)
“The best thing about Sassy Seats is that grandmothers cannot figure out how they work and are in constant fear of the child’s falling. This often makes them forget to comment on other aspects of the child’s development, like why he is not yet talking or is still wearing diapers. Some grandmothers will spend an entire meal peering beneath the table and saying, “Is that thing steady?” rather than, “Have you had a doctor look at that left hand?””
—Anna Quindlen (20th century)