Human longevity slows in UK – Financial Express Bangladesh

Recent studies suggest that the rapid pace of improvement in British longevity is now slowing, according to a global media report Monday. The Continuous Mortality Investigations group, which produces longevity projections based on the experience of insured and pensioned lives, found that longevity for men at age 65 fell by six months to 22.2 years while that of women fell by eight months to 24.1 years.

While longevity is still expected to be higher than it is today, it is by a smaller margin than earlier forecasts. PwC, the professional services firm, recently produced a study concluding that as much as 310 billion could be wiped from the liabilities of UK defined benefit schemes. Although a respected group of actuaries hit back, describing the assumption as extreme, the entire debate has escalated to the political arena.

A backdrop to the discussion is the fact that increases in the age at which state pensions are payable is open for debate. In thinking about the rate at which state pension ages rise, the UK Government Actuarys Department assumes as does the Office for National Statistics that, in future, longevity will rise at the same pace it has for the past century; that is, 1.2 per cent each year. That could change with new data to be released in the autumn.

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Human longevity slows in UK - Financial Express Bangladesh