Life Tables

The life table provides a comprehensive measure of the effect of mortality on life expectancy.  It is composed of sets of values showing the mortality experience of a hypothetical group of infants born at the same time and subject throughout their lifetime to the age-specific mortality rates of a particular time period, usually a given year.

Three series of complete life tables are prepared by NCHS for the U.S. population- decennial, annual preliminary, and annual final.  The U.S. decennial life tables are based on decennial census data and deaths for a 3-year period around the census year.  Preliminary life tables are based on a substantial sample (approximately 90 percent) of death records.  Estimates of life expectancy from the preliminary series are published annually.  The annual final tables are based on a complete count of all reported deaths.

Available since 1945, the annual life tables are based on deaths occurring during the calendar year and on midyear postcensal population estimates provided by the U.S. Bureau of the Census.

SOURCE: National Vital Statistics Reports

Related Links
Life Expectancy FASTATS
Death (Mortality) Data Web Page

This page last reviewed January 11, 2007