The effect of census errors on life table estimates of black mortality

Abstract

Previous results on the effect of census errors on vital rates suggests that estimates of mortality are subject to measurable distortions, but, in most cases, the discrepancy has been found to be within tolerable limits. The findings of this paper would tend to support that conclusion. Official estimates of the mean expectation of life for the black population are distorted to some extent by the presence of uncorrected net census errors, but the degree of distortion, with few exceptions, does not seem to be sufficient to influence the direction of the majority of demographic, epidemiological, and social research incorporating life table statistics.