Longevity is improving through much of the world and has been doing so for several centuries. Various disciplines study the causal factors behind this trend, but rarely meet together. The inaugural workshop hosted by the ARC Centre for Excellence in Population Ageing Research (CEPAR) brought actuaries, demographers, geographers, sociologists, economists and health researchers together to compare approaches and share research findings.
They joined industry professionals to discuss both methodological approaches and data challenges in analysing longevity from a demographic standpoint. International speakers included David McCarthy from Imperial College London, Annamaria Olivieri from the University of Parma and Nikola Sander from the Vienna Institute of Demography.
Topics were diverse, and examined issues such as the effects of population ageing on GDP per capita; life style, health, and socio-demographic predictors of survival and ageing well; retirement migration of Australian baby boomers; the heterogeneity of Australian population mortality and implications for a viable life annuity market; and ageing, cognition and dementia in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, as well as papers on methodology.
'The workshop was designed to bridge disciplinary boundaries to strengthen the foundations of analysis of longevity trends,' CEPAR's Director, Professor John Piggott, said 'We have a long way to go to arrive at a unified view of longevity futures, but this workshop demonstrated the future potential of this research endeavour. Government and industry participants added an operational perspective which kept discussion well grounded.'
This is the first in a series of workshops hosted by CEPAR to improve knowledge and understanding across the disciplines germane to population ageing.