Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 April 2012
A common method of measuring relative mortality experience in actuarial, demographic and epidemiological studies is by way of comparison of the actual number of deaths and the number expected if a given standard experience were applicable. The properties of this method are discussed. Further ways of making such a comparison are described, one of which (the widely used Cumulative Mortality Ratio) has a serious bias in application to follow-up mortality studies. The properties of an alternative approach, the Ratio of Geometric Average Death Rates (RAD), are also discussed. This extends the analysis published in 1982 by the author, although attention is focused here on ratios that measure relative mortality experience.