A mortality model based on a mixture distribution function

Stefano Mazzuco, Università di Padova
Lucia Zanotto, Università di Padova
Bruno Scarpa, Università di Padova

A new mortality model based on a mixture distribution function is proposed. We mix a half-normal distribution with a generalization of the skew-normal distribution. As a result we get a six-paramters distribution function having a good fit with a wide variety of mortality patterns. This model is fitted to several mortality data and compared with Siler (five parameters) and Heligman-Pollard (eight parameters) models. The proposed model can be a convenient compromise between Heligman-Pollard model (which ensures a good fit with data but is often overparameterised) and Siler model (which is more compact but fail to capture accident humps).