Patricia is a 60 year old / female / who lives in Bismark, N…

Patricia is a 60 year old / female / who lives in Bismark, North Dakota; and she wants to apply for a life insurance policy. The life insurance company decides to perform a statistical probability analysis to determine the likelihood (frequency) that a 60 year old / female / who lives in Bismark, North Dakota / with similar characteristics to Patricia will die within any given year.  Why does the life insurance company take the time to perform a statistical probability analysis to determine the likelihood (frequency) of Patricia dying in any given year?