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Multi-output Gaussian processes for multi-population longevity modelling

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2021

Nhan Huynh  and
Mike Ludkovski Open the ORCID record for Mike Ludkovski [Opens in a new window]
Nhan Huynh
Affiliation:
Department of Statistics and Applied Probability, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA93106, USA
Mike Ludkovski*
Affiliation:
Department of Statistics and Applied Probability, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA93106, USA
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: ludkovski@pstat.ucsb.edu
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Abstract

We investigate joint modelling of longevity trends using the spatial statistical framework of Gaussian process (GP) regression. Our analysis is motivated by the Human Mortality Database (HMD) that provides unified raw mortality tables for nearly 40 countries. Yet few stochastic models exist for handling more than two populations at a time. To bridge this gap, we leverage a spatial covariance framework from machine learning that treats populations as distinct levels of a factor covariate, explicitly capturing the cross-population dependence. The proposed multi-output GP models straightforwardly scale up to a dozen populations and moreover intrinsically generate coherent joint longevity scenarios. In our numerous case studies, we investigate predictive gains from aggregating mortality experience across nations and genders, including by borrowing the most recently available “foreign” data. We show that in our approach, information fusion leads to more precise (and statistically more credible) forecasts. We implement our models in R, as well as a Bayesian version in Stan that provides further uncertainty quantification regarding the estimated mortality covariance structure. All examples utilise public HMD datasets.

Keywords

longevity modelingGaussian processmulti-population mortality
Type
Paper
Information
Annals of Actuarial Science , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , July 2021 , pp. 318 - 345
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Institute and Faculty of Actuaries

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