Project description
New perspectives on lifespan inequalities at older ages
Although life expectancy is often used to summarise life length, the mean doesn’t capture the spread. Lifespan distribution research is important for evaluating pension reforms and related policies. However, there has been little demographic modelling on inequalities at older ages in individual lifespans. The EU-funded Unequal Lifespans project aims to shift the way we think about retirement to include individual lifespan inequalities. It also intends to develop the demographic theory of old-age mortality and test the hypothesis that significant progress is being made in cutting death rates after the age of 90. Furthermore, it will develop an innovative theory-based forecasting method based on eight strong regularities of mortality trajectories at older ages. This work will guide further research on lifespans at older ages.
Objective
How unequal are lifespans at older ages? How unequal will they be in the future? The length of life is often summarized by life expectancy, but the mean does not capture the spread. Distributions of lifespans need to be analyzed and forecast. Given the relevance of such research—for assessing pension reforms and other social and health policies—it is remarkable how little demographic modeling has been devoted to inequalities at older ages in individual lifespans. The research proposed here has three audacious ambitions and bold theoretical thrusts: (1) broaden discourse and conceptually shift thinking about retirement to include individual lifespan inequalities, (2) developing the demographic theory of old-age mortality, test the hypothesis that substantial progress is being made in cutting death rates after age 90, and (3) develop an innovative theory-based forecasting method based on 8 strong regularities of mortality trajectories at older ages that goes well beyond the state of the art to predict lifespan distributions (and inequalities)—and to quantify the uncertainties in these predictions. Preliminary research, mostly on Denmark but also some on Sweden, France and Japan, to prepare this application produced findings that surprised me. The probability of dying after age 50 but before retirement age was higher than I suspected. The likely growth in the number of people above age 90 astonished me. Rates of improvement in mortality after age 100 in France and Japan were much greater than published estimates for Denmark or Sweden. Current forecasting methods appear inadequate to capture likely reductions in death rates at the ages when most people die. These preliminary findings suggest that the daring theory-based, theory-building program of analysis of 40+ countries/regions proposed here will open new perspectives for research on lifespans at older ages as well as providing novel, highly-relevant input to discussions of the challenges of raising retirement ages.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
ERC-ADG - Advanced Grant
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2019-ADG
See all projects funded under this callHost institution
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
5230 Odense M
Denmark
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.