Is Longevity Acceleration Sustainable? An Entropy-Based Trial of the Population of Spain vs. Japan

Amancio Betzuen Zalbidegoitia and Amaia Jone Betzuen Álvarez
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Amancio Betzuen Zalbidegoitia: Department of Economics and Finance I, Economics and Business Faculty, Av/Lehendakari Agirre 83, Campus of Vizcaya, University of the Basque Country, 48015 Leioa, Spain
Amaia Jone Betzuen Álvarez: Department of Economics and Finance II, Economics and Business Faculty, Av/Lehendakari Agirre 83, Campus of Vizcaya, University of the Basque Country, 48015 Leioa, Spain

Mathematics, 2021, vol. 9, issue 15, 1-18

Abstract: Longevity risk is a major concern for governments around the world as they have to address social benefits, whether in the form of pensions, healthcare, or caring for dependents and providing long-term care, and so forth, which directly impact countries’ budgets. This paper uses a single entropy index to measure this type of risk. This methodology is clearly different from the one traditionally used in the literature, which is nearly entirely based on measuring the evolution of mathematical life expectancy. The authors used the longest-living populations in the world, Japan and Spain, to create a database in order to analyse the virtue of the indicator. The aim was to establish whether the longevity of those populations is accelerating or decelerating, compared by sex, and whether that occurs at the same intensity at different stages of a person’s life in each case. If the indicator showed differences in intensity, it would be a benchmark for the insurance and financial industry, providing it with information to market different products.

Keywords: longevity; mortality risk; entropy; measurement; sustainability; Japan; Spain (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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