Select and Ultimate Mortality Tables for Actuaries

Selection Effects

Select mortality tables recognize that recently underwritten lives have lower mortality than the general population at the same age. The select period (typically 2 to 15 years) is the duration after underwriting during which mortality rates are lower. During this period, mortality depends on both current age and time since selection: q_[x]+t for t = 0, 1, ..., s-1, where s is the select period length. After the select period, mortality rates merge with the ultimate table: q_[x]+s = q_{x+s}.

Working with Select Tables

A select and ultimate table has entries for each issue age x and duration t since selection. Insurance and annuity values for newly issued policies use select mortality: A_[x] uses select rates for the first s years and ultimate rates thereafter. The notation [x] denotes selection at age x. To compute l_[x]+t, apply select mortality rates successively from l_[x]. Exam LTAM problems require computing survival probabilities, insurance values, and reserves using select and ultimate tables, including interpolation between select and ultimate mortality.