Expected lifetime in South Australia 1841-1996

Abstract

For each sex, population life tables have been calculated from mortality data associated with the age-specific population counts produced by each of the twentyfive population censuses that have been conducted in South Australia from 1841 until 1996. Estimates of expected lifetime have been derived separately for males and females for each census year. The computationally intensive statistical method of the bootstrap has been used to calculate a statistical sampling error for each estimate of expected lifetime. The results show generally increasing trends: from approximately 44 years and 48 years in 1841, to 75 years and 81 years in 1996, for males and females respectively.