Glossary

Mortality table

A chart showing, for each age, the probability of dying within a year and often the expected remaining lifetime, used to price and reserve for life insurance.

Also called: life table, actuarial table

A mortality table, also called a life table or actuarial table, lists for each age the probability that a person will die before their next birthday, and often the number of survivors out of a starting group and their remaining life expectancy. Tables are usually split by sex, and many insurance tables also separate smokers from nonsmokers and use "select" rates for recently underwritten lives.

Different tables serve different purposes. Insurers build pricing tables from their own claims experience. Regulators prescribe valuation tables, such as the Commissioners Standard Ordinary (CSO) table, for minimum reserves, nonforfeiture values and federal tax tests. The Social Security Administration publishes period life tables for the population, and the IRS publishes tables for required minimum distributions. Say, hypothetically, a table shows 980 of an original 1,000 people alive at 55 and 970 at 56: the one-year mortality rate at 55 is 10 ÷ 980, or about 1%.

Population tables generally show higher death rates than tables built on insured lives, because underwriting screens out many serious health problems. That's one reason a general life expectancy figure won't match an insurer's pricing. See mortality trends and how they move life insurance prices and the life expectancy calculator.

Last reviewed October 4, 2026

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Related terms

CSO mortality table The table of death rates state regulators adopt as the minimum standard for life insurance reserves, guaranteed values and tax-law tests. Mortality rate The share of people of a given age expected to die within a year, often shown as deaths per 1,000; it is the foundation of life insurance pricing. Life expectancy The average number of additional years people of a given age are expected to live, calculated from mortality tables for a population or group. Mortality improvement The long-term decline in death rates at each age over time, which actuaries project forward when pricing life insurance, annuities and pensions. Reserves Liabilities a life insurer must hold on its balance sheet, as required by state law, to cover future claims and benefits owed on policies in force.

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Related tools

Life expectancy calculator Shows average remaining lifetime at your age and sex, and the chance of reaching 70, 80, 90 or 100, from the Social Security life table. Odds of outliving your term Shows the average chance, at your age and sex, of dying during a 10- to 40-year term, and of outliving it.