Iterative intercensal single-decrement life tables using Stata

Abstract

One way to estimate mortality in countries with incomplete data is to utilize intercensal methods, which do not require model life tables and provide accurate results even in the presence of age distortions and death underregistration. In this article, I revisit three of these techniques (census based, death distribution, and an iterative procedure) and introduce ilt, a command to calculate singledecrement life tables and the net flow of migrants by age. The required inputs are two age-specific population distributions and the average number of deaths between them. The empirical example draws on data from Vietnam, but the methods are extendable to any context and period.