Human+Survivorship+-+by+KunYang


 * __Comparing the Human Survivorship of 150 Mexican and Canadian citizens by birth__**

The human survivorship of natural born Mexicans and Canadians both resemble type I of the survivorship curves where infant mortality rate is very low and mortality increases rapidly in old age due to the average higher living standard enjoyed by North American nations. Both nations are considered to be economically developed, and neither suffer from major internal or external conflicts. However, the survivorship curve for Canadians would be closer to being ‘late loss’ on the hypothetical survivorship curve given the nominal GDP for Canada is more than 5 times higher than Mexico, at an estimation of $43,674 per capita in 2007 according to the IMF. High nominal GDP means an average Canadian would be less likely to suffer from malnutrition and insufficient access to clean water, two essential contributing factors to human life expectancy. Also, the fact that Canadians have universal healthcare means Canadians enjoy higher accessibility of medical attention and therefore result in delays in the increase of mortality on their survivorship curves.
 * Hypothesis**

[|Canada] [|Mexico]
 * Life Tables**
 * Source:

Human Survivorship**

The graph supports my initial hypothesis that the survivorship curves for both population would resemble a late loss on the hypothetical survivorship curve while the curve for Canadians would be a closer match. If the survivorship curve for Canadians is the standard of a late loss, then the curve for Mexicans would actually be in between constant loss and the hypothesised type I late loss. The survivorship curve of constant loss is drawn in dashed line on the graph for reference. This is no surprise since Mexico does have a considerably lower GDP than Canada and it faces more unnatural factors that would affect life expectancy on an individual basis, such as crime and lack of healthcare. The human survivorship curves for Mexicans and Canadians are still above the typical constant loss curve, which is consistent with the hypothesis that since both nations are considered economically developed, the initial infant mortality rate would be much lower due to better medical and nutritional knowledge and access to clean water. Biologically speaking, humans need a period of growth after birth before they can become sexually mature. Most women give birth to one child at a time and can only do it about once every 12 months. Therefore it makes sense that the population survives past that initial period after birth, otherwise human beings would become extinct before they can begin reproducing new offspring quickly enough to carry on their genes. The extensive period of parental care present in human society also explains that the population do not die shortly after birth and often survive until adult life. In both Mexican and Canadian societies humans employ the division of labour hence most survive through their adult lives because trade allows most people can live without having to worry about gathering enough food or building the right shelter everyday.
 * Evaluation**

This activity assumes that the age of death of all individuals from each nation would be available at the source and the source is equally accessible for the people who posts the obituaries. This assumption in itself carries many variables that could not be manipulated. The graph is only true for the data collected that is only based on the obituaries of 150 Mexicans and Canadians who died in the past 2 years and had also been posted on Ancestry.com. A single commercial website does not represent any official statistical figure and the reliability and accuracy of this website, hence the data is unknown. This sample size is not statistically significant to represent the population of each nation and it does not consider both sexes equally. Nor does the data take into the considerations of lifestyle, life choices, wealth and the health of each individuals sampled. Unnatural causes of death such as murder or war that manipulates mortality rate do not reflect upon the true survivorship of any population. This factor is not considered anytime during the data collection process.
 * Limitations**