On Estimate of Malaysian Mortality Rates Using Interpolation Methods

Abstract

Life table is a table that shows mortality experience of a nation. However, in Malaysia, the information in this table is provided in the five-year age groups (abridged) instead of every one-year age. Hence, this study aims to estimate the one-year age mortality rates from the abridged mortality rates using several interpolation methods. We applied Kostaki method and the Akima spline method to five sets of Malaysian group mortality rates ranging from period of 2012 to 2016. The results were then compared with the one-year mortality rates. We found that the method by Akima is the best method for the Malaysian mortality experience as it gives the least minimum of sum of square errors. The method does not only provide a good fit but also, shows a smooth mortality curve.