Symposium

Overview

The fourth in a series, the 2011 Living to 100 Symposium brought together thought leaders from around the world to discuss the increasing longevity of humans and its impact on social, financial, health care and retirement systems.

Attendees included actuaries, gerontologists, demographers, economists, physicians, scientists, academics and other professionals, who discussed topics and gathered information to aid in estimating advanced age mortality and mortality improvement rates in order to:

• design, price, value and manage financial security products
• develop national life tables
• assess the state of government social insurance programs and private pension plans
• ensure the availability of health care providers and health care facilities for the aged
• project the resources, products and services needed for and used by an aging population
• provide valuable information for retirement and financial planning.

Sessions focused on the estimation of future longevity and the implications of changing longevity. Sessions on implications considered a variety of groups affected by longer life, including individual citizens, insurers and other financial service companies, managers of social insurance programs, sponsors of private employee benefit plans and policymakers.

Distinguished speakers presented information from current papers on topics, including:

• predictors of exceptional longevity
• slowing the aging process
• factors affecting mortality
• mortality analysis and trends
• public pension reform
• effects of obesity and other controllable factors on survival