Changing Mortality from 1841 to 1947 measured by the Life Table

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Abstract
A summary of the history of life-tables is followed by discussion of their defects and limitations and definition of the symbols and terms used. It is suggested that life-tables are most obviously useful in international comparison of mortality. Taking the British Registrar-General''s life-tables for 1931 and an abridged table for 1946-8 (construction of which is descr. in appendix), the author compares them with figures for 3 similar ethnic groups (from United Nations Demographic Yearbook, 1948 and Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., New York, Life Tables, 1947). Since 1895, mortality rates[long dash]lowest in New Zealand (non-Maori population), higher in Australia (non-Aborigines) and in England and Wales, and highest in U. S. A. (white population)[long dash]while falling have converged to near-equality. The author states a new formula (Zx = L[DELTA] [division sign] lx), representing "mean years of survival within the age-group x to x + [DELTA]". Using Zx and its ratio Rx and examining for a new trend in English life-tables, he demonstrates that in the future a continued increase in expectation of life can only be through lowered death risk in the older age groups, with the possibility of "a substantial improvement in the age group 80 and over". Tentative forecasts are made of the extent of improvement for each sex in groups 40-59 and upwards.

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