Human Life Table Research and Findings

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Human Life Table Research and Findings

• By Addie Erwin and Stephanie Meyer

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Purpose

• To determine what type of society Kentuckians
  live in today and a century ago
• To learn the comparisons between life spans of
  men and women today and a century ago
• To determine what type of society we lived in a
  century ago compared to present daya type I,
  type II, or type III society.

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Types of societies

• Type I represents a society where the mortality
  is predominantly among the elderly
• Type II represents a constant rate of mortality
  (ex. birds)
• Type III represents a society where the most
  mortality is among younger people (ex. Insects,
  parasites, fish etc.)

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Procedure

• We obtained a sample of 100 male and 100 female
  deaths from the Courier-Journal from Dec. 3-6th
  2004
• We obtained a sample of 100 male and 100 female
  deaths of people born between 1800-1880 from
  Jefferson county cemetery records. Information
  was gathered from eight different cemeteries.

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Procedure (cont.)

• We recorded the age of death for each of the 400
  individuals and categorized them in 21 different
  age groups in five year intervals
• We created a human life table and survivorship
  curve based on that table for each of the sample
  groups
• Men present day
• Women present day
• Men a century ago
• Women a century ago

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Survivorship Curve (present day males and females)
Female Results
Male Results
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Results of present day sample

• Mens survivorship curves showed a slightly more
  rapid decline than womens, indicating a shorter
  life span
• The average age of death for women today is
  between 80 and 90 years, while men average
  between 70 and 80 years

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Survivorship for males a century ago
Female Results
Male Results
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Results of sample a century ago

• Women still had longer life spans than men
• The average age of death for women was between 70
  and 80 years, while men averaged between 60 and
  70 years

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Mortality rate differences

• Female vs. Male Present Day
• ex) Mortality rate for a man at age 50-54 is 7.
  
• A womans mortality rate at age 50-54 is only
  1.

• Female vs. Male Historical
• ex) Infant mortality rate is 17 for males
• Infant mortality for females is 10

• Men tend to have a slightly higher mortality rate
  than women

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Mortality Rate Differences Cont.

• Female Present day vs. Female Historical
• Infant mortality present day from our sample was
  at 0 compared to a 10 infant mortality rate in
  our historical data.

• Male Present day vs. Male Historical
• Infant mortality present day is at 4 compared to
  a 17 infant mortality rate in our historical
  data.

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Conclusions

• Women tend to have a longer life span than men by
  5-10 years.
• Infant mortality rates have decreased since the
  19th century
• Men tend to have a slightly higher mortality rate
  than women.
• Survivorship curves showed a type I society for
  all of the samples
• Type I society is a developed one in which the
  mortality of older people precedes younger people