All You Can Fit: Estimating a Fixed Rate of Aging on Human Mortality Surfaces

Trifon I. Missov, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
Carlo G. Camarda, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)

The individual rate of aging is defined as the relative derivative of one's risk of death from senescent causes. The b-hypothesis, formulated by Vaupel (2010), suggests that all humans might share the same individual rate of aging. Assuming that the b-hypothesis holds, we estimate the individual rate of aging on human mortality surfaces. We present several statistical approaches, their advantages and shortcomings, as well as some preliminary conclusions.