February 2026

Fairness Views, Pension Benefits, and Heterogeneity in Life Expectancy

By Maria Chaykina Notional Defined Contribution (NDC) pension schemes convert accumulated pension wealth into an annuity, based on an average life expectancy at retirement. When longevity differs across social groups, a single conversion factor implies systematic transfers from shorter-lived to longer-lived individuals. This motivates proposals to differentiate benefits by socio-demographic characteristics related to life expectancy. We study whether such differentiation is perceived as fair using a survey experiment involving 3,004 Italian residents aged 18-66. Respondents completed an incentivised allocation task...

India. Report shows retirement plans can face inflation and longevity risks: How to prepare

A new analysis by OmniScience Insights Labs shows that traditional retirement strategies in India may fall short in sustaining income over long retirements. The report highlights how structural design, rather than corpus size alone, determines whether retirees can maintain their lifestyle amid rising costs and market volatility. Inflation risk: Even stable nominal income erodes purchasing power over decades. For example, ₹1 lakh monthly expenses today could rise to nearly ₹1.8 lakh in 10 years at a 6% inflation...

Rethinking Retirement Planning for a 100-Year Life

With Canadians living longer than ever, experts say that retirement planning has to account for decades, not years. Starting early and staying invested are critical to building a strong financial cushion for one’s later years. Younger Canadians are using a diverse range of investments, including mutual funds, ETFs, and alternatives. Canadians are living longer than ever, which is why experts say that younger investors should plan for their savings to last decades, not years, in retirement. Average life expectancy for Canadians has...

Why Is Japan’s Population Decreasing?

Japan’s population has been declining steadily since 2005 primarily because of a decrease in births, which have consistently been lower than the number of deaths per year. The birth rate in Japan dropped from about 19 per 1,000 people in 1970 to just 6 in 2023. Until the mid-1970s, the total fertility rate remained above the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman, the threshold needed for population stability, but that rate declined to a record low of 1.15 in 2024. Another factor has been a gradual shift...

New Life Expectancy Data Reveals Surprising Impact on Retirement Plans

What’s Changed About Life Expectancy—and Why It Matters People are living longer nowadays. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the average life expectancy was 75.8 years for males, 81.1 years for females, and the average for both sexes is 78.4 years in 2023.1 But these averages don’t tell the whole story. Medical advances mean more people are living into their late 80s and 90s than ever before.2 A longer life means more years in retirement, and that shift...

January 2026

Living longer, planning smarter: The hidden costs of longevity

Few phrases sound as reassuring as ‘increased life expectancy’. Thanks to medical advances, improved nutrition, and greater awareness of healthy living, South Africans are living longer than ever before. But, while longevity may be a triumph of modern progress, it is also one of the most underestimated risks to a person’s financial plan. The challenge is not merely ensuring you don’t outlive your money, it’s understanding what those extra years may actually cost, in both financial and human terms. The longevity...

Asia is entering the longevity era. How can we rethink wealth in a 100-year life?

For Asian countries in an aged-society stage, this demographic shift brings profound implications for how people are supported through longer lifespans. Just as a CFO manages risk and plans strategically, individuals must take a more active role in building financial resilience. The true success of a 100-year society lies not only in extending lifespan but in extending dignity, contribution and meaning. Across Asia, populations are ageing at a pace the world has never seen. Countries like Japan, the Republic of Korea and...

Refining longevity risks for China’s ageing population

Just like every dark cloud has a silver lining, insurers are proficient at managing risks and turning them into opportunities. As an ageing population has become a pressing issue around the globe, the booming demand for insurance and annuities presents considerable potential. China, one of the fastest-ageing countries, is expected to see its personal insurance market expand from four trillion Chinese yuan (US$553 billion) in 2021 to between 6.6 and 12.6 trillion Chinese yuan by 2035, according to the Boston...

November 2025

The longevity revolution: Preparing for a new reality

By Fidelity International There is a quiet revolution happening. It is not about climate change, market cycles or artificial intelligence. It is about time - more specifically, how much more of it we have, and the ability to do what we want with that extra time. For the first time in human history, older populations are growing at a faster pace than the youngest cohorts, ushering in an unprecedented demographic shift worldwide. By 2050, 2.1 billion people - nearly 22%...

October 2025

Adapting health, economic and social policies to address population aging in China

By Evandro F. Fang, Yuan Fang, Guobing Chen, He-Ling Wang, Jianying Zhang, Chenkai Wu, Jing Liao, Chenglong Xie, Xiaoting Liu, Kan Wang, Yang Liu, Guang Yang, Qian Wang, Long-Tao He, Jun Li, Hou-Zao Chen, Lin Kang, Yawen Jiang, Huanxing Su, Hong Jiang, Na He, Jun Tao, Sean Xiao Leng, Richard C. Siow, Chunrong Liu, Hafiz T. A. Khan, Yuanli Liu, Hisaya Kato, Takashi Sasaki, Jong In Kim, Andrea Britta Maier, Lin Zhang, Lene Juel Rasmussen, Jean Woo, Jing Wu...