Description: Paper presented at Living to 100 symposium January 2002. Study describes the increase in life expectancy at birth in Japan, the emergence of centenarians, the trends in the number of deaths of centenarians, and the increase in maximum reported age at death. Death rates above the age of 100 in Japan since 1963 are computed and analyzed. This study completes and updates results presented in a previous study Robine and Saito, 200X.

Description: Presented at Living to 100 symposium, January 2002. This paper proposes a standard operating procedure for testing the Gompertz assumption using yearly age-specific mortality data, and the impacts of the data collection period and population sizes on the testing results are discussed.

Description: Elderly women living alone experience some of the highest poverty rates in the United States. One reason for their financial frailty is that they face more longevity risk than men. Existing financial products that can mitigate this risk are not attractive to many people. Can alternative vehicles for pooling longevity risk be developed outside the insurance market that would appeal to these individuals? This paper suggests some risk-pooling approaches and compares their effectiveness and viability.

Description: This paper focuses on the situation of women at high ages and the implications of longer life for women. This paper draws on and brings together work done by the Society of Actuaries in connection with the 2005 post-retirement risk survey, work from Social Security administration studies, U.S. government census data, WISER, the MetLife Mature Market Institute and papers funded by the Social Security research center.

Description: Presented at the Living to 100 Symposium, January 2011. This study explores increasing life expectancy by examining the basic properties of survival curves. Specifically, the author checks for signs of mortality compression, using a non-traditional approach. The results indicate that human longevity is likely to increase, at least for a while, and longevity risk should be seriously considered in pricing annuity products. Some suggestions for dealing with the longevity risk are also proposed.

Description: Discussion resulting from presentation of Held's Plastic Omega paper at the Living to 100 and Beyond symposium, Session 1. This is Held's response to Jay Olshansky's comments regarding his paper, which discussed research on the aging process.

Description: This paper focuses on the situation of women at high ages and the implications of longer life for women. This paper draws on and brings together work done by the Society of Actuaries in connection with the 2005 post-retirement risk survey, work from Social Security administration studies, U.S. government census data, WISER, the MetLife Mature Market Institute and papers funded by the Social Security research center.

Description: This article covers subjects discussed at the 2011 Living To 100 Symposium. Included were the real potential of a material extension of life and economic challenges associated such an occurrence.

Description: The growing aging population presents unique challenges and opportunities, especially for the financial services industry. Presenters will explore the issues with particular focus on demographic challenges, such as age dependency ratios and implications for sovereign debt and public policy. They will also compare and contrast private sector offerings across the globe. In particular, as an example of a super-aging society, presenters will describe how Japanese insurers and pension funds tackle longevity risk.

Description: Using population data, mortality rates are projected for people who will attain age 80 in the future. Finally, the distribution of the maximum age at death that will be attained by a Canadian is investigated.