One of the most important tasks in actuarial science is to describe the actual but unknown mortality pattern of a population. In order to achieve this, the actuary calculates from raw data the crude mortality rates, which usually form an irregular series. Because of this, it is common to revise the initial estimates with the aim of producing smoother estimates, with a procedure called graduatio...

In order to compare evolved human and chimpanzees' life histories we present a synthetic life table for free-living chimpanzees, derived from data collected in five study populations (Gombe, Taï, Kibale, Mahale, Bossou). The combined data from all populations represent 3711 chimpanzee years at risk and 278 deaths. Males show higher mortality than females and data suggest some inter-site variati...

Results from the USDA:APHIS:VS National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) Dairy 2002 survey reported that approximately 5% of dairy cows die, on-farm, across the country each year. This is a very high death rate compared with that of beef cows or feedlot animals, where annual death rates were estimated at 1 to1.5%. In the NAHMS survey unknown reasons accounted for the largest percentage (...