Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T03:01:07.615Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Bias of the Census Method

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 August 2014

W. L. Stevens*
Affiliation:
University of São Paulo, Brazil
Get access

Extract

Two conditions have been proposed (Anderson & Dow, 1948) for the census method of constructing a mortality table to be ‘strictly correct’: (1) that at the beginning and end of the investigation, ages of lives are evenly spread over the year of age x to x + 1, or (2) that numbers and distributions of ages are the same at beginning and end.

In effect, these alternative conditions are proposed to insure that the approximate formula for the total period of exposure to risk, derived from annual census,

shall be reasonably correct. It is, however, of interest to examine the method more closely, under the hypothesis that the total period of exposure to risk can be determined with negligible error, as would theoretically be possible by holding censuses with sufficient frequency.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Institute of Actuaries Students' Society 1956

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCE

Anderson, J. L. & Dow, J. B. Actuarial Statistics, Vol. 11, Mortality and Other Tables. Cambridge, 1948.Google Scholar