An Alternative Way to Estimate Life Expectancy from Census Survival Ratios:Examples and Comparisons for Native Hawaiians in the Early 20th Century

Census survival ratios (CSRs) are the oldest and most widely applicable methods of estimating adult mortality. For populations with negligible migration they can provide excellent results of both mortality and expectation of life. Swanson and Tedrow developed a new approach for using CSRs that is less involved than the existing approach. Tests on available data indicate that the alternative approach works reasonably well. In this paper we extend the use of their approach to a population defined by ethnicity, Native Hawaiians. We use the early 20th century as the period for this examination, which is a time when this population was subject to negligible migration. The development of life tables for this population allows us to compare our life expectancy estimates to those derived from the “gold standard” of life expectancy. Our examination suggests that the alternative CSR method works well in estimating life expectancy for Native Hawaiians, which suggests that it can be used elsewhere. Our study also has revealed some cautionary notes about the effect of migration, net census undercount error, and changing conceptions of ethnic identity.