The most frequent adult length of life in the eeighteenth century: The eexperience of the French-Canadians

Abstract

Over the last ten years, the modal age at death has become a focus of research on human longevity, notably because it provides information about the most frequent adult age at death without being influenced by mortality conditions at early ages. Little is known about levels and trends in adult modal age at death in historical populations. The Registre de la population du Québec ancien is a historical data source recognized for its reliability which sheds new light on adult longevity in the eighteenth century. The data used, detailed by sex and year of age, cover the period 1740-1799. To estimate modal age at death, this study uses an innovative non-parametric P-splines smoothing method known to be flexible and highly effective. The analysis reveals that the most frequent age at death of adult French-Canadians increased over the period, rising from around 73 years to almost 76 among women, and from around 71 years to more than 74 for men. The specific living conditions of the French-Canadian population at that time may explain this substantial rise.© 2013 I.N.E.D. All rights reserved.