Mortality of Indian assured lives

It is now nearly a decade since the author had the honour of submitting a paper on the mortality of assured lives in India, and the manner of its reception by the members of the Institute has emboldened him to make a second venture. Particular impetus was given to the writing of this paper by the fact that, in the discussion that followed the reading of the earlier paper, several speakers observed that they would be interested to know the results of an analysis of the mortality prevailing in the large subcontinent of India, subject to varying climates and other conditions of life, according to geographical situation, and an attempt has now been made to give this information as revealed by the statistics of the “Oriental”. The words, “the more investigations were made into mortality in various parts of the world and in various types of business the better”, with which Sir (then Mr) William Elderton closed his observations on the earlier paper, are typical of the attitude of the Institute towards papers on mortality investigations, particularly as applied to countries like India, which are becoming very important from a life assurance point of view. Information concerning the mortality to which the various parts of the country are subject is, however, still very meagre.