The average number of years a person born in a given year is expected to live if current mortality patterns hold constant across their lifetime, the single most used summary indicator of a population overall health and one of the World Health Organization core reported statistics.
Facts
First Described Year First Described Era1660s; the earliest documented work on life expectancy, including production of the first life table giving probabilities of survival by age, was done by John Graunt together with Christiaan Huygens and Lodewijck Huygens. 2 Concept ClassPublic health, population statistics 3 Connections
Associated With
Source World Health Organization Official Site
In Branch
Source World Health Organization Official Site
Sources
1. Encyclopedia.com: John Graunt
Encyclopedia.com (Gale)Paragraph on the February 5, 1662 Royal Society distribution of ObservationsQuote, Paragraph on the February 5, 1662 Royal Society distribution of Observations
On February 5, 1662, Graunt's newly-printed 90-page work, Observations, was distributed to the members in attendance at a meeting of England's Royal Society.
2. Wikipedia: Life Expectancy
WikipediaHistory sectionQuote, History section
The earliest documented work on life expectancy was done in the 1660s by John Graunt, Christiaan Huygens, and Lodewijck Huygens.
3. World Health Organization Official Site
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