- Home
- Definitions and methods
- Definitions
- Life expectancy
Life expectancy
Definition
Life expectancy at birth (or at age 0) represents the average lifetime - in other words the average age at death - of an imaginary generation subject to the mortality patterns of the year in question. It characterises mortality irrespective of age structure.
It is a particular case of life expectancy at age x. For a given year, this expectancy represents the average age at death of the individuals of an imaginary generation of age x having the same probability of dying, at each age, as that observed for that age in the year in question.
In other words, it is the average number of years remaining to live beyond this age x (or average survival time at age x), under the mortality conditions per age of the year in question.
