Investigating the Adaptation of Age Pattern of Mortality in Iran with Model Life Tables

In the absence of adequate registered data on death and due to uncertain coverage, there are several indirect methods which can be used to estimate the level of mortality. None of these methods are able to estimate age-specific mortality rates and therefore cannot meet the needs of study and planning areas. Therefore, in such circumstances, it is essential to use mortality models to adapt the estimated level of mortality with the standard age pattern of the models. However, each model is based on different experimental data and they have different levels of adaptation in different geographic regions. The main question of this article is that which model is more compatible with age pattern of mortality of Iran? Using data on death from Civil-Registration Vital Statistics and on population from Census, age specific death rates by sex have been calculated and the compatibility of models life table with the age pattern of death has been examined using Brass Logit Model. The results revealed that the differences between societies and changes in patterns and causes of mortality, especially changes in the timing by cause, emphasizing early mortality pattern due to accidents, the Iranian mortality pattern seems to be different. Although the age pattern of Iran's mortality is apparently compatible with the North model of Coale-Demeny Life-Tables, this does not mean the similarity of these two mortality patterns, and the definitive answer to this question requires further studies.