Life tables for 191 countries for 2000: Data, methods, results

Abstract

Basic demographic information on the number of deaths by age and sex in a population is a critical input for the determination and evaluation of health policies and programmes. Beginning with the year 1999, the World Health Organization (WHO) began making annual life tables for all Member States. These life tables have several uses and form the basis of all WHO’s estimates about mortality patterns and levels worldwide. A key use of these life tables is in the construction of healthy life expectancy (HALE) which is the basic indicator of average population health levels used by WHO and published each year in The World Health Report. The construction of a life table requires reliable data on a population’s mortality rates, by age and sex. The most dependable source of such data is a functioning vital registration system in which all deaths are registered. Deaths at each age are related to the size of the population in that age group, usually estimated from population censuses, or continuous registration of all births, deaths, and migrations. The resulting age/sex-specific death rates are then used to calculate a life table.

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