Mortality Research Published: Modelling Socio-economic Differences in Australia
I’m very pleased to share that our Actuaries Institute research paper, Incorporating Socio-economic Factors in Mortality Modelling, is now available.
The paper explores how socio-economic characteristics can be incorporated into mortality modelling in Australia. That matters because mortality assumptions are not just abstract technical inputs. They shape retirement income projections, insurance pricing, capital decisions, public policy analysis, and the way actuaries think about fairness across different communities.
Alongside the paper, we have also released the Australian Longevity Explorer, an interactive tool for exploring projected life expectancy and annuity income under different demographic and socio-economic profiles. It is designed to make the research more usable: not only as a paper to read, but as a model to interrogate, test, and discuss.
My Contribution
This project brings together several areas I care deeply about: actuarial judgement, statistical modelling, public-interest research, and practical tools that help people understand complex risk.
I contributed to the work as part of the research team and helped develop the interactive explorer experience, including the medical explorer component. Building tools like this is the kind of actuarial work I find most meaningful: rigorous enough to support professional decision-making, but accessible enough to invite better questions from people outside the modelling process.
Why This Matters
Mortality modelling is often discussed in aggregate, but real lives are not aggregate. Socio-economic differences can affect longevity in ways that are material for retirement outcomes, product design, and policy decisions. Models that recognise those differences can help actuaries ask sharper questions about equity, sustainability, and the assumptions sitting behind financial advice and institutional decisions.
For me, this publication is a milestone because it sits at the intersection of research and application. It is also a reminder of the kind of career I want to keep building: technically strong, socially aware, and useful in practice.
You can read the paper through the Actuaries Institute and explore the interactive tool here:
- Research paper: Incorporating Socio-economic Factors in Mortality Modelling
- Interactive tool: Australian Longevity Explorer
