Description: In 2024, 27 disasters in the United States resulted in damages exceeding $1 billion. These disasters included two winter storms, one wildfire event, one drought/heatwave event, one flooding event, six tornado outbreaks, 11 severe weather/hail events and five hurricanes. The costliest of these events was Hurricane Helene, which resulted in 219 deaths and cost $79.6 billion , although the early 2025 wildfires in the Los Angeles, California area threaten to exceed this economic cost. In Canada, insured catastrophic losses totaled C$8.5 billion in 2024, making it the costliest year on record for the country. Outside the United States and Canada, Cyclone Chido killed more than 1,000 people, a heatwave in Bangladesh impacted 33 million people and a drought in Columbia has had a significant impact on the economy there .

Description: The Society of Actuaries (SOA) Research Institute’s Mortality and Longevity Strategic Research Program Steering Committee issued a call for essays to explore the application of artificial intelligence (AI) to mortality and longevity. The objective was to gather a variety of perspectives and experiences on the use of AI in mortality modeling, forecasting and prediction to promote discussion and future research around this topic. The collection includes six essays that were accepted for publication from all submissions. Two essays were chosen for prizes based on their creativity, originality, and likelihood of further thought on the subject matter.

Description: The SOA has recognized the actuarial programs at Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, and Robert Morris University, Moon Township, PA, as University-Earned Credit (UEC) Centers of Actuarial Excellence (CAE).

Description: In this session we will discuss the challenges that companies have with reporting under the new LDTI and IFRS17 requirements, and the risks that it brings to their processes.

Description: ESG is the abbreviation of Environmental, Social and Governance, which has become an increasingly popular concept in the capital markets across the globe. Although definitions on ESG vary slightly according to different sources, the general understandings are similar. Environmental refers to issues related to the planet, such as climate change mitigation and biodiversity protection; Social focuses on issues around societal problems, such as gender inequality; Governance puts emphasis on building and maintaining a sound corporate governance system.

Description: The Society of Actuaries (SOA) Research Institute hosted a virtual Open House on Wednesday, April 19, 2023, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Central. The topic of this virtual Open House was the Institute’s Actuarial Innovation & Technology Strategic Research Program. There was a presentation and a question-and-answer session.

Description: The Society of Actuaries Research Institute’s Catastrophe and Climate Strategic Research Program is pleased to release the following essay addressing current and potential uses for the Actuaries Climate Index.

Description: This report presents research into recent population mortality experience as it pertains to development of mortality improvement assumptions for measuring obligations of retirement programs in the United States.

Description: This report discusses cancer mortality at older ages, including insights on cancer risk, trends, treatment, and impacts, as well as expert panel discussions. It addresses factors influencing cancer risk, advancements in treatment, and the impact of COVID-19 on cancer trends.

Description: The Group Life COVID-19 Mortality Survey gathers a high-level view of U.S. Group Term Life Insurance mortality results during the COVID-19 pandemic through March 2021, as compared to prior period baseline mortality results. This new report is an update to the survey report released in December 2020, which contained data through August 2020.