English and American Mortality.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 5193, 13 April 1888, Page 2

English and American Mortality.

Outside of New York and a few other largo town the vital statistics of this country are too incomplete for any trustworthy comparison of American villi English mortality, but the London Laucet obtains from the statistics of life assurance companies trustworthy data for comparing the duration of life hero and there. A few years ago tables were published showing tho actual experienco of thirty of our life assurance companies witli more than 600,000 policies, a number large enough for valnablogeneralisation. It appears from this table that the expectation of life of insured males in the United Statesat 20 years of age is 42-1 years, and of females -10 -8 years. Similar English statiatics make the "expectation there precisely the same in tho case of women, but ono year less in the ease of men. This greater expectation of life for American men is maintained until the advanced ago of 8 . is reached, when the difference in our favour disappears. With women between ■10 and 47 the- expectation of life is somewhat greater hero than in England, but after 47 the difference is slightly in favor of Englaud. In this country the expectation of life is lower among insured women than among insured mon after tho age of •Y.i, while in England after tho age of 3b the advantage is with the women and continues increasingly to tho end of life. Of course insured lives aro picked lives, toe people obtaining policies being men aud women who have been subjected to a medical examination to determine their general physical soundness. They are also individuals who are removed from dangers to lifo and health incident to poverty, and a largo part of them belong to the portion of society whose chances of life are always best—tho peoplo of moderate but satlioient incomes; derived from salaries and occupations in which they are not subjeetad to the strain aud friction of affairs that break down lifo by over-anxiety. It is tme that of recent years policies of life assurance havo been largely taken out by men in active and vexatious business as a measure of precaution against its perils, and also for tho securing- of creditors, but the system commends itself more espeoially to men with stated incomes as providing a method by which they can leave something to their families. But as it is so it is in England, and therefore the LfPcet's comparison is very valuable and suggvstive. It seems to show, for one thing, thai, tho talk of tho greater strain of life here is not supported by the facts, American men in correspondin" positions having a little better chaueo of [ife than Englishmen.—New York Sun.