How Old is Old? Revising the Definition Based on Life Table Criteria

Frank Denton and Byron Spencer

Independence and Economic Security of the Older Population Research Papers from McMaster University

Abstract: Sixty-five has long been thought of as the point of entry into "old age". We propose a number of life table criteria for answering the following questions: If 65 was considered appropriate four decades ago, what is the corresponding age today? If 65 was (implicitly) a male-oriented definition four decades ago, as we believe it was, what would have been the appropriate definition for women at that time, and what is it today? We address these questions by applying our criteria to 1951 and 1991 Canadian life tables.

Keywords: old age; life tables (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 J14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 20 pages
Date: 1996-05
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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Related works:
Journal Article: How old is old? Revising the definition based on life table criteria (1999)
Working Paper: How Old Is Old? revising the definition Based on Life Table Criteria (1996)
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