January 2026

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...

The Future of Retirement Security An International Comparison through the Lens of Adequacy, Sustainability, Equity and Plan Design

By Surya Kolluri, Catherine Reilly & David P. Richardson Countries around the world are considering and implementing reforms to their retirement systems for a variety of reasons, including increasing demographic and economic pressures. A key demographic driver is human longevity. For example, the average retiree can expect to spend about two decades in retirement, roughly double the time from 50 years ago. In the United States, life expectancy has risen by 17 years since the Social Security program debuted nearly 90...

US. Uncertainty about retirement growing increasingly

Americans are growing increasingly uncertain about their retirement plans amid persistent inflation and mounting concerns about the future of Social Security. In a trio of recent surveys from Charles Schwab, Fidelity, and Northwestern Mutual, Americans' confidence in their ability to retire, retire comfortably, and the exact age at which different generations expect to retire varied widely. And in both the Schwab and Fidelity surveys, the number of Americans who said they're confident in their retirement plans fell from the same surveys conducted last...

Rising birth rates no longer tied to economic prosperity

Fertility rates began falling in most of the world starting in the last century. By the 1970s, the U.S. had dipped under the replacement rate of 2.1 children per woman, a trend that has continued on a declining slope. In her new working paper, “The Downside of Fertility,” Claudia Goldin, the Henry Lee Professor of Economics, takes a deeper dive into the cultural changes around gender that are driving down fertility rates. The economic historian and 2023 Nobel laureate introduced a model in a previous...

Life expectancy must not be only factor to determine state pension age

Life expectancy should not be the only factor when setting the state pension age, experts have warned. Providers shared their concerns as part of the call for evidence for the Third State Pension Age Review, warning any age changes should not deepen inequalities. The review into the state pension age is exploring how changes in life expectancy, along with other factors should be reflected in future changes to the state pension age. The state pension age is increasing to 67 by 2028, with...

Ageing populations to reshape the future of life insurance: Swiss Re

Swiss Re, the reinsurance company based in Zurich, reports that demographic changes are set to transform the life insurance industry over the coming decades. In its latest sigma publication, the company highlights that by 2050, around one quarter of people in advanced economies will be aged 65 or older. This development, often referred to as the “Silver Economy”, is expected to redefine the types of protection and financial solutions needed as societies age. According to Swiss Re, the combination of longer...

Is longevity a risk for pension insurers and schemes?

Insurers are better placed to pool and manage longevity risk than pension schemes, according to Ash Williams, risk settlement partner at XPS Group. Speaking on a panel at the XPS Group’s 2025 Pensions Conference, Williams explained that insurers have three tools in their box when it comes to managing longevity risk. Longevity risk is the chance that life expectancies and survival rates exceed expectations, resulting in greater-than-anticipated cash flow needs on the part of insurance companies or pension funds. Williams said insurers...

The impacts of different dietary restriction regimens on aging and longevity: from yeast to humans

By Tsui-Ting Ching & Ao-Lin Hsu Dietary restriction (DR) refers to a broad set of interventions that limit the intake of specific nutrients or overall food consumption, either in quantity or timing, without causing malnutrition. DR has long been considered the most robust intervention for increasing healthspan and lifespan. This includes, not exhaustively, caloric restriction (CR), protein restriction (PR), amino acid restriction (AAR), intermittent fasting (IF), and time-restricted fasting (TRF), each with overlapping but distinct metabolic and physiological effects. This...