A Study on Link Functions for Modelling and Forecasting Old-Age Survival Probabilities of Australia and New Zealand

Forecasting survival probabilities and life expectancies is an important exercise for actuaries, demographers, and social planners. In this paper, we examine extensively a number of link functions on survival probabilities and model the evolution of period survival curves of lives aged 60 over time...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Jacie Jia Liu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021-01-01
Series:Risks
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9091/9/1/11
_version_ 1827698542671560704
author Jacie Jia Liu
author_facet Jacie Jia Liu
author_sort Jacie Jia Liu
collection DOAJ
description Forecasting survival probabilities and life expectancies is an important exercise for actuaries, demographers, and social planners. In this paper, we examine extensively a number of link functions on survival probabilities and model the evolution of period survival curves of lives aged 60 over time for the elderly populations in Australasia. The link functions under examination include the newly proposed gevit and gevmin, which are compared against the traditional ones like probit, complementary log-log, and logit. We project the model parameters and so the survival probabilities into the future, from which life expectancies at old ages can be forecasted. We find that some of these models on survival probabilities, particularly those based on the new links, can provide superior fitting results and forecasting performances when compared to the more conventional approach of modelling mortality rates. Furthermore, we demonstrate how these survival probability models can be extended to incorporate extra explanatory variables such as macroeconomic factors in order to further improve the forecasting performance.
first_indexed 2024-03-10T13:31:45Z
format Article
id doaj.art-32a100b3fedf4f31969569420b5f1bad
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2227-9091
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-10T13:31:45Z
publishDate 2021-01-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Risks
spelling doaj.art-32a100b3fedf4f31969569420b5f1bad2023-11-21T07:50:44ZengMDPI AGRisks2227-90912021-01-01911110.3390/risks9010011A Study on Link Functions for Modelling and Forecasting Old-Age Survival Probabilities of Australia and New ZealandJacie Jia Liu0Department of Economics, Finance and Property, School of Business, Western Sydney University, Narellan Rd & Gilchrist Dr, Campbelltown, NSW 2560, AustraliaForecasting survival probabilities and life expectancies is an important exercise for actuaries, demographers, and social planners. In this paper, we examine extensively a number of link functions on survival probabilities and model the evolution of period survival curves of lives aged 60 over time for the elderly populations in Australasia. The link functions under examination include the newly proposed gevit and gevmin, which are compared against the traditional ones like probit, complementary log-log, and logit. We project the model parameters and so the survival probabilities into the future, from which life expectancies at old ages can be forecasted. We find that some of these models on survival probabilities, particularly those based on the new links, can provide superior fitting results and forecasting performances when compared to the more conventional approach of modelling mortality rates. Furthermore, we demonstrate how these survival probability models can be extended to incorporate extra explanatory variables such as macroeconomic factors in order to further improve the forecasting performance.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9091/9/1/11projection modelsurvival probabilitylife expectancy
spellingShingle Jacie Jia Liu
A Study on Link Functions for Modelling and Forecasting Old-Age Survival Probabilities of Australia and New Zealand
Risks
projection model
survival probability
life expectancy
title A Study on Link Functions for Modelling and Forecasting Old-Age Survival Probabilities of Australia and New Zealand
title_full A Study on Link Functions for Modelling and Forecasting Old-Age Survival Probabilities of Australia and New Zealand
title_fullStr A Study on Link Functions for Modelling and Forecasting Old-Age Survival Probabilities of Australia and New Zealand
title_full_unstemmed A Study on Link Functions for Modelling and Forecasting Old-Age Survival Probabilities of Australia and New Zealand
title_short A Study on Link Functions for Modelling and Forecasting Old-Age Survival Probabilities of Australia and New Zealand
title_sort study on link functions for modelling and forecasting old age survival probabilities of australia and new zealand
topic projection model
survival probability
life expectancy
url https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9091/9/1/11
work_keys_str_mv AT jaciejialiu astudyonlinkfunctionsformodellingandforecastingoldagesurvivalprobabilitiesofaustraliaandnewzealand
AT jaciejialiu studyonlinkfunctionsformodellingandforecastingoldagesurvivalprobabilitiesofaustraliaandnewzealand