what is the yearly probability of dying 
yearly probability of dying is a statistical estimate of the likelihood of a person dying within a year usually based on their age sex and sometimes other factors it is widely used in health studies by the government and by the insurance industry in setting rates understanding the yearly probability of dyingestimates of yearly probability of dying are based on mortality tables also known as actuarial or life tables which reflect the percentage of people in a particular group who are statistically likely to die in a particular time period those percentages are derived by dividing the number of deaths in that group by the number of people who were alive at the beginning of the period for example the mortality tables used by the u s social security administration estimate that a 30 year old male has a 0 23 chance of dying within one year for a 60 year old the odds rise to 1 3 while a 119 year old which is as high as the table goes has a 97 chance of mortality within a year 1mortality tables and yearly probability of dying calculations can add other variables as well with smoking vs nonsmoking being a major one for life insurance and annuity contract purposes they are also calculated using other variables such as education income and the specific cause of death depending on what the researchers are studying one widely used set of mortality tables particularly in the insurance industry is the commissioners standard ordinary cso mortality tables adopted by the national association of insurance commissioners the cso tables differentiate mortality risk by age sex and tobacco use 2the probability of dying is frequently calculated using longer or shorter time frames than one year for example a common measure of child health in a given country is the under 5 mortality rate u5mr which estimates the probability of a child dying between birth and age 5 3 maternal mortality rates are based on a period equal to the length of time the woman is pregnant or within 42 days of the end of pregnancy based on the world health organization s definition 4laura porter investopedia