2.9 Benjamin Gompertz and law of mortality

In the 19^th century researchers showed increasing interest towards population phenomena. At the end of the 18^th century Thomas Malthus published his hypothesis on the acceleration of population growth and assumed the growth to continue geometrically, and in 1825 the English mathematician Benjamin Gompertz (1779-1865) realised that mortality can also be described by this same geometric growth.

The probability of death is high right after the moment of birth; subsequently the probability of death is low until about 15 but starts to grow again after that. The growth continues at a faster rate and doubles every seven years. This statistical calculation is called the Gompertz law of mortality. That doubling every seven years no longer holds true, though.