Finance and Financial Management Commons^™

An Analysis Of Australian Pensioner Mortality By Pre-Retirement Income, David Knox, Andrew Tomlin

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993-2006)

The existence of a relationship between an individual's socioeconomic status and his or her mortality is often accepted, but it is difficult to measure this relationship objectively. This study analyses the relationship between an individual's final salary immediately prior to retirement and mortality rates during retirement. The data used are taken from a large Australian public sector pension plan. A strong inverse relationship is found, which decreases with age. Some of the implications of these results for individual annuity markets and public pension policy are discussed.