Edmond Halley published the influential 1693 paper that used mortality data to create an early life table.
Halley studied birth and death records from Breslau, then used them to estimate how many people survived to different ages. His work appeared in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society and provided a mathematical basis for calculating life expectancy and the cost of life annuities.
A life table shows survival patterns across ages. Insurance companies use related actuarial methods to estimate how long policyholders may live, how often claims may occur, and how much money should be reserved for future obligations.
John Graunt had earlier analyzed London bills of mortality, so Halley’s work built on an existing tradition rather than appearing from nowhere. Halley’s table was nevertheless a major advance because it connected population mortality data with financial calculations.