Definition
A mortality table is a tabular record of age-specific death and survival rates for a defined population, used as the foundational reference structure for actuarial pricing, life expectancy calculation, and survival probability projection across lifetime income arrangements.
Why it matters
Mortality tables are how a probabilistic concept — the likelihood of death at each age — is turned into structured data that pricing, valuation, and projection can actually use. Naming the table behind a given quote, illustration, or life expectancy figure makes visible the population and time period the figure rests on, which different choices of table can change materially.
How it works
A mortality table records, for each age, the probability that a person of that age will die before reaching the next age, along with derived figures — the number of survivors out of a hypothetical starting cohort, expected remaining life at each age, and related measures. The table is constructed from observed mortality experience for a defined population — the general US population, insured lives, annuitants, pensioners — and may apply to a single calendar year as a period table, to a specific birth cohort as a cohort table, or to a base period adjusted for future mortality improvement as a projected table. Different tables produce materially different results for the same individual: a general-population table will show higher mortality at most ages than an annuitant table, because annuitants are a selected subgroup with longer expected lifespans. The 2017 Commissioners Standard Ordinary (CSO) table, the Pri-2012 pension mortality table, and the RP-2014 retirement mortality table are widely used US examples; the specific table chosen flows directly into the price of an annuity, the actuarial value of a pension, or the projected payout from a pool.
In practice
For an individual evaluating a lifetime income arrangement, mortality table choice is rarely surfaced explicitly but is operating behind every quote. The practical questions are which population the table represents, whether it is a period or projected table, and whether mortality improvement is built in or assumed flat. An annuity quote built on an annuitant table will reflect the longer expected lifespans of the people who actually buy annuities; an in-plan lifetime income illustration built on a general-population table may rest on different assumptions. A professional explaining the pricing of any lifetime income product should be able to name the table in use, and an individual comparing arrangements across providers can reasonably ask which table was applied.
In the Longevity Standard Framework
A mortality table is the structural mechanism underlying every quantitative finding in the Longevity Standard framework. Replacing the mortality basis changes the numerical findings without changing the framework's structure, which is why every numerical claim in the framework names its parameters — including the mortality assumption — and why cross-arrangement comparisons within the framework hold the mortality basis constant so that the differences observed reflect arrangement structure rather than mortality choice.
Related terms
- Period life table
- Cohort life table
- Projected mortality table
- Select and ultimate mortality table
- Mortality rate
- Survival curve
- Life expectancy
- Actuarial present value