The Characteristics Approach to the Measurement of Population Aging

Sanderson, W.C. & Scherbov, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0881-1073 (2013). The Characteristics Approach to the Measurement of Population Aging. IIASA Interim Report. IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria: IR-13-007

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Abstract

Traditional measures for aging have been in use for many decades. They are widely applied by interested parties from scientists to politicians and are used in many national and international organizations. These measures provide the fundamental inputs into the analysis of population aging and into other related fields. Because they do not take into account changes in people's characteristics such as improvements in life expectancy and health, these measures are becoming increasingly inappropriate for both scientific and policy analysis. There is now an emerging new paradigm that considers multiple characteristics of people including, but not limited to, their chronological age. In this paper, we provide the history of the characteristics approach to the measurement of population aging and examine its basic mathematical structure. Using examples from Japan, Lithuania, Norway, and the United States we show that this paradigm provides us with new and insightful measures of population aging.

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