Description: Discusses various historical and projected future rates of mortality improvement, with a focus on older ages, and more.

Description: This article is an introduction to the topic of mortality projections and their impact on social security systems. The article reviews two life expectancy graphs and overall trends in life expectancy by gender at birth and age 65 in the United States, Canada and the UK.

Description: The most recent demographic data published in Mexico allows us to analyse in detail the profound demographic transition that has been taking place in the country for more than four decades. It is possible to develop forecasts for the future on the basis of this historic experience. The purpose of this article is not only to illustrate the profound demographic change in Mexico – and what it is expected to experience over the coming decades – but to highlight the challenges for the insurance industry posed by the various demographic trends. Wherever challenges are found, however, opportunities also exist, provided the industry succeeds in adequately transforming its own processes and meeting the needs of a changing market.

Description: The recent release of the RP-2014 Mortality Table and Scale MP-2014 exposure drafts represent the SOA’s first comprehensive reexamination of U.S. pension-related mortality assumptions in over a decade. This paper summarizes the key conclusions reached in those exposure drafts and the estimated financial impact of adopting the new mortality assumptions.

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: This is an article from a free-lance writer and is his debut performance in The Actuary. The article presents a humorous look at the information contained in the obituaries of the New York Times.

Description: This article is about the 2008 Living to 100 Symposium which highlighted changes in longevity, biological perspectives, mortality trends and more .

Description: This article provides a perspective on the SOA’s Aging and Retirement research reports, and on the types of research that are included. The SOA does a lot of research on different retirement topics, and many people are not aware of the scope of this work. This article offers an overview of the big picture as we think about the future. The article describes longer-term challenges to the US retirement system and recent developments that have affected the system and created uncertainty. It provides an overview of what individuals have said about retirement and their view of post-retirement risks and planning in a variety of consumer research studies. It then reviews some of the research and provides information on summary reports which provide insight on the findings from multiple related research reports. It also provides information about consumer education and what is currently available and in process. It then focuses on how the SOA is helping retirement professionals understand current and expected change and discusses areas of uncertainty as we help those we serve deal with change.