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General interest | VitaMins

VitaMins Health: GLP-1 obesity medications - will they be as big as statins for life expectancy?

The World Health Organization has referred to obesity as “one of today’s most blatantly visible – yet most neglected – public health problems”. But excitement is now rising around new appetite-suppressing medications with public health organizations hopeful that these treatments may help tackle this growing epidemic.

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Top charts

Bite-sized longevity analysis in the form of our favourite charts

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General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 24-01: Was there any excess mortality in the UK in 2023?

In this edition of Top Charts, Nick Chadwick looks at the 2023 UK population mortality data and asks how different 2023 mortality was to the pre-COVID trend.

11 January 2024

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 23-13: Tontine days of retirement

In this holiday-special edition of Top Charts, Erik Pickett and Carmen Gatta explore which group from song the 12 days of Christmas with whom it would be best to enter a tontine contract.

3 January 2024

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 23-12: Post-COVID data and pre-COVID trends

In this edition of Top Charts, Nick Chadwick explains the perhaps surprising impact of post COVD mortality data on pre-COVID longevity trends and how this will continue to evolve.

8 December 2023

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 23-08: Incorporating pandemic data into mortality projection models

In the latest release of the CMI mortality projections model, the CMI have introduced population mortality experience data from 2022 into the calibration of the core version of the model. This allows pandemic-era experience to affect projections of mortality rates in the future. In this edition of Top Charts, Jill Jamieson explores how different weightings to pandemic years of data will affect liabilities associated to future benefit payments.

29 September 2023

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 23-06: Are the top causes of death reflected in our search history?

There can often be a disconnect between perception and reality with regard to things that have the largest impact on our lives. But how much is this the case with causes of death? In this edition of Top Charts Mia Marcellus compares the top causes of death in our different geographies with their relative Internet search frequency.

5 July 2023

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 23-05: Post COVID Longevity Landscape – Change in Trajectory or Step Change?

It is generally agreed that mortality data for 2020 and 2021 is not particularly useful for setting mortality assumptions for 2023 and beyond. However, it is also generally accepted that events since 2019 have had a negative effect on public health, due to factors such as long COVID, increased pressures on health systems and economic slowdown. In this edition of Top Charts, Nick Chadwick discusses two contrasting approaches to modelling post-pandemic longevity trends.

2 June 2023

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 23-03: Universal state retirement ages

There has recently been widespread debate across the globe (e.g. in Canada, the UK, the US and France) about potential increases in state retirement ages. Much of the debate has focused on the increases in life expectancy since the introduction of state retirement provisions – but life expectancy is not the same for everyone in society. In this edition of Top Charts, Alexandra Sonnenwirth explores this issue and asks whether it’s fair to have a one-size fits all retirement age.

30 March 2023

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 23-01: What can 2022 UK mortality rates tell us about longevity projections?

In this edition of Top Charts, Nick Chadwick examines the level of UK excess mortality seen in 2022 and considers what this means for longevity projections.

6 February 2023

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 22-11: Total number of human lives and deaths ever

In this edition of Top Charts, Erik Pickett and Carmen Gatta look at the total number of people who have ever lived and died. Are more people alive today than have lived and died in the past?

5 December 2022

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 22-10: Could summer be the new winter for UK mortality?

In this edition of Top Charts, Jill Gallagher looks at UK mortality observed throughout 2022 so far.

17 November 2022

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 22-07: Women’s Sports and Life Expectancy

In this edition of Top Charts, to mark the climax of the 2022 UEFA European Women's Football Championship Erik Pickett and Nick Chadwick investigate whether there is any relationship between national average life expectancy and footballing ability

26 July 2022

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 22-06: How have life expectancy and health adjusted life expectancy changed over time?

In this edition of Top Charts, Shantel Aris discusses life expectancy and health adjusted life expectancy (HALE) in Canada, the UK, and the US and how these have changed over time.

14 June 2022

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 22-05: Retirement preparedness vs longevity pessimism

In this edition of Top Charts, Erik Pickett presents a second chart from our recent Longevity, lifestyle and retirement perception survey, 2022 showing the relationship between retirement preparedness and longevity pessimism in Canada, the UK and US.

25 May 2022

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 22-04: Longevity pessimism

In this edition of Top Charts, Erik Pickett presents a chart from our recent Longevity, lifestyle and retirement perception survey, 2022 showing the level of longevity pessimism in Canada, the UK and US.

22 April 2022

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 22-03: 2021 excess deaths

In this edition of Top Charts, Erik Pickett, Nick Chadwick and Shantel Aris look at excess deaths in 2021 in the UK, US and Canada compared to historical levels.

15 March 2022

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 22-02: What does the W parameter in the CMI model actually do?

In this edition of Top Charts, Mark Sharkey examines the latest released parameter as part of the CMI mortality projections model

17 February 2022

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 21-04: Longevity as a proportion of total funding risk

In this edition of Top Charts, Alan Garbarino looks at what proportion longevity makes up of the total funding risk of pension schemes in the UK.

28 December 2021

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 21-11: Antibiotic use in meat production

In this edition of Top Charts, Erik Pickett looks at the levels of antibiotic use in meat production in different countries around the world.

30 November 2021

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 21-10: Differences in COVID-19 impact on pensioners in England, Scotland and Wales

In this edition of Top Charts, Mark Sharkey looks at the different impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mortality rates of DB pensioners in England, Scotland and Wales

8 November 2021

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 21-07: World records, 100m sprint vs life expectancy

Inspired by the start of the Tokyo Olympic games, in this edition of Top Charts Nick Chadwick and Erik Pickett compare the progression of world records for the 100m sprint and for life expectancy at birth.

23 July 2021

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 21-10: Excess deaths in England & Wales: 2020 compared to history

In this edition of Top Charts, Chuyi Yang looks at excess deaths in England & Wales and compares the extreme experience in 2020 to previous years back to 1900.

28 January 2021

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 20-10: COVID-19 compared to other leading causes of death

In this edition of Top Charts, Erik Pickett examines how the numbers of COVID-19 deaths compare to other leading causes of death in the UK, US and Canada.

30 October 2020

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 20-08: Life expectancy doesn’t tell the whole story

In this edition of Top Charts, Erik Pickett explains why there's more than meets the eye when it comes to life expectancy.

28 August 2020

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 20-7: Workin’ 9 to 5: a way to keep on livin’?

In this edition of Top Charts, Helen Wells looks at whether working to a later retirement age boosts life expectancy.

31 July 2020

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 20-04: Impact of COVID-19 on 2020 cumulative deaths (up to 10 April)

In this edition of Top Charts, Connor O'Reilly discusses the effect COVID-19 is having on 2020 cumulative deaths.

22 April 2020

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 20-01: Seasonal mortality and socio-economic status

In this edition of Top Charts, Megan Hart discusses whether seasonal mortality rates are different for different socio-economic groups.

6 February 2020

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 19-12: How harsh are the winters in Canada, the UK and the US?

In this edition of Top Charts, Richard Brown, Erik Pickett and Daniel Reddy discuss whether more people die in the winter than in the summer.

17 December 2019

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 19-11: Looking ahead to the CMI’s 2019 mortality improvement projections model

In this edition, Mark Sharkey and Conor O'Reilly consider how the relatively light mortality experienced so far in 2019 might affect the impact of the next CMI mortality projections model on pension fund liabilities.

21 November 2019

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 19-09: Flu strains and excess winter deaths

In this edition, James Freeman considers whether excess winter deaths are affected by specific flu strains.

16 October 2019

General interest | Top charts

Top Charts 19-08: Early signs of a longevity bounce back in the UK in 2019?

In this edition, Engagement Lead Mark Sharkey looks into how the number of deaths experienced in recent years, compares to the first half of 2019.

8 August 2019