Capturing the Mode

Paola Vazquez-Castillo , University Of Southern Denmark
Marie-Pier Bergeron-Boucher, Interdisciplinary Center on Population Dynamics (CPop), University of Southern Denmark
James W. Vaupel, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research and Max Planck Odense Center on the Biodemography of Aging

In the age of longevity increase, it is essential to have adequate measures to estimate the modal age at death. The mode is an essential indicator of longevity, mortality improvement at old ages, and for analyzing the shifting of mortality. Estimating the mode can, however, be difficult. The current methods for estimating the modal age at death are explored in this paper, as well as a new proposal for an estimation method for the mode. The new method is based on the mode property of being a maximum for the distribution of deaths and being the point of intersection between the force of mortality and the rate of aging curves. We showed that current methods for calculating the mode are not consistent over time and across them.

See extended abstract

 Presented in Session P1. Postercafe