Standardized Coefficient

any of the statistical indicators used to eliminate differences when comparing aggregates of different composition. Thus, a comparison of mortality indicators for persons in two different occupations may be complicated by a difference in the age structure. To eliminate the influence of this difference on mortality coefficients, the same age structure is arbitrarily adopted for both groups; standardized coefficients characterizing the mortality indicators for both groups are then calculated, and the indicators can then be compared. For this purpose, average mortality indicators by age are computed for both occupations using the same age group weighting.

Methods of greater complexity for obtaining standardized coefficients also exist. In demographic statistics, standardized coefficients are also used in comparing different indicators, for example, indicators on births and marriages. The coefficients need not be confined to comparisons by occupation; they can also be used with, for example, territories and time periods. In economic statistics, indicators similar to standardized coefficients are used in, for example, calculations in which the same product sets are used for two periods being compared.