Prospective Longevity: A New Vision of Population Aging

Sanderson, Warren C.|Scherbov, Sergei

ISBN 10: 0674975618 / ISBN 13: 9780674975613

Published by Harvard University Press, 2019

About this Item

Warren Sanderson and Sergei Scherbov argue for a new way to measure individual and population aging. Instead of counting how many years we ve lived, we should think about our prospective age -the number of years we expect to have left. Their pioneering mod.

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: Prospective Longevity: A New Vision of Population Aging
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication Date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674975618
• ISBN 13: 9780674975613
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

From two leading experts, a revolutionary new way to think about and measure aging.

Aging is a complex phenomenon. We usually think of chronological age as a benchmark, but it is actually a backward way of defining lifespan. It tells us how long we’ve lived so far, but what about the rest of our lives?

In this pathbreaking book, Warren C. Sanderson and Sergei Scherbov provide a new way to measure individual and population aging. Instead of counting how many years we’ve lived, we should think about the number of years we have left, our “prospective age.” Two people who share the same chronological age probably have different prospective ages, because one will outlive the other. Combining their forward-thinking measure of our remaining years with other health metrics, Sanderson and Scherbov show how we can generate better demographic estimates, which inform better policies. Measuring prospective age helps make sense of observed patterns of survival, reorients understanding of health in old age, and clarifies the burden of old-age dependency. The metric also brings valuable data to debates over equitable intergenerational pensions.

Sanderson and Scherbov’s pioneering model has already been adopted by the United Nations. Prospective Longevity offers us all an opportunity to rethink aging, so that we can make the right choices for our societal and economic health.

About the Authors

Warren C. Sanderson is Professor Emeritus of Economics at Stony Brook University and Research Scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.

Sergei Scherbov is Deputy Program Director of the World Population Program at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Director of Demographic Analysis at the Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital, Leader of the Population Dynamics and Forecasting Research Group at the Vienna Institute of Demography, and Head of the International Laboratory on Demography and Human Capital at RANEPA, the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.