Description: This paper is the final report in a project commissioned by the Society of Actuaries Social Security Committee. The paper considers a variety of possible risk classification factors that could be used in estimating the value of any mortality based benefit for retirees. As many countries consider mandatory individual retirement accounts as their answer to a secure Social Security system, the question arises as to whether all workers can get true 'market value' annuities when they retire. It is clear today that private sector life annuities are priced assuming that the applicant is healthy-very healthy. Very little underwriting or risk classification now exists in the individual annuity marketplace. This paper reviews 45 recent research papers that look at factors that affect mortality after retirement. In particular, factors that seem to be important in predicting retirement mortality include: age, gender, race and ethnicity, education, income, occupation, marital status, religion, health behaviors, smoking, alcohol, and obesity. For each factor, this paper gives highlights relative to the named factor of the impact expected from that variable as described in the 45 reviewed research papers.

Description: The Human Mortality Database is a unique collection of detailed mortality and population data with complete and reliable vital registration and census data.

Description: A detailed statistical analysis of mortality improvement for the Canadian population and for the Canadian insured lives conducted by the Institute for Quantitative Finance and Insurance.

Description: The article discovers that mortality is higher for females than for males at higher ages, and suggests "stress" as the explanation. It then discusses mental illness research, including recovery therefrom.

Description: A sample is shown of age-adjusted death rates by cause in the United States population, compiled by H.E.W.‘s National Center for Health Statistics, which appear on pages 77-84 of the T.S.A. 1978 Reports distributed November 1979.

Description: Discusses the symposium, “The Future of Life Expectancy,” on March 10-11, to address how employment is affected by longevity.

Description: This editorial explains the benefits of a recent seminar among NAFTA countries on mortality improvement and how social security systems can be affected.

Description: The author explores the issue of longevity risk with its implications for life insurers and society at large, and concludes that the actuarial profession is in a unique position to understand longevity risk and offer solutions.

Description: Attempts to construct an abridged mortality table from the scant data available. The number of persons exposed is 291, among whom there have been 184 deaths.

Description: Study of the Effect of a Flu Pandemic on Insured Mortality Using the Delphi Method