On Premiums Deduced from the Mortality Experience (1863-1893) of British Life Offices

Extract

The distinguishing feature of the New Experience which differentiates it from all others, is the division of the observations into various classes of assurance; and when our President did me the honour of asking me to contribute a paper, I thought I could not do better than invite your attention to the premiums which, according to that experience, ought to be charged for these classes, as it is of the greatest importance to insurance companies generally that the risks which they undertake should be at adequate rates. Some of us have suspected, others have known, that the fate of mortality varied according to the class of assurance, and that one table of mortality applied to all was not satisfactory; but it is now possible for the first time to arrive at definite conclusions on the subject, and to determine in many cases what the difference between them really is.