Abstract
Characteristic nuclear level widths determined from various nuclear reactions for nuclei with 24<or=A<or=108 are compared with a microscopic theory which includes the nuclear pairing interaction. The single-particle levels of Nilsson et al (1957) and Seeger and Perish (1957) are used in the calculations. The gross features of the experimental data due to nuclear shells are reproduced with the microscopic theory. The agreement between experiment and calculated level widths obtained from this statistical analysis is good considering the uncertainties in the experimental data, the theoretical single-particle levels and the pairing energy.