Select Mortality Table

It's like The Private Reserve wine of mortality tables. Just peeking at the name alone, this sounds kind of gruesome. When we actually dig into what it is, it...still sounds gruesome. A select mortality table is a table of mortality (death) rates specifically for people who have been recently insured. Insurance companies have all kinds of mortality tables for different groups of people like those who have chronic illnesses, who smoke, etc.

These mortality tables help the insurance company determine a premium that reduces the financial risk to the insurance company to its lowest value based upon the different factors like health or personal habits. The select mortality table specifically contains data on those who have recently bought a life insurance policy. Typically these mortality rates are lower than those in other kinds of mortality tables because to have purchased life insurance recently, a person likely passed a physical examination which likely would have revealed an illness or condition that would shorten their lifespan.