Actuarial Notes

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U.S. Railroad Retirement Board Bureau of the Actuary

No. 1 - 12

November 2012

Longevity of Railroad Retirement Beneficiaries

Calculations of the life expectancies of railroad retirement beneficiaries have recently been made

from studies of data compiled for the Twenty-Fifth Actuarial Valuation of the railroad retirement

system, which was made as of December 31, 2010. These studies have been conducted for male

and female age annuitants, disability annuitants, spouses and widows. Comparisons with studies 

done for the twenty-third and the twenty-fourth valuations show a general improvement in life 

expectancies for age and disability annuitants. Other major results of the studies are contained in the 

following discussion and the two attached tables.

Life expectancies may help provide an indication of the amount that will be paid out in benefits in

individual situations, since a benefit is generally payable until the individual beneficiary dies. In the

case of spouses and widows, another event, such as death of the employee or remarriage of the

widow, may terminate all or a portion of the benefit.

Table 1 illustrates the differences in longevity among the categories of railroad retirement

beneficiaries and also shows life expectancy figures for the total U.S. population. The figures for

railroad retirement beneficiaries show age and disability retirements separately, while those for the

U.S. population do not segregate disabled lives.

As indicated in table 1, a male railroad worker retiring at age 65 may expect, on the average, to

receive his annuity for 17.7 years or approximately 212 months; while one retiring at age 62 may

expect to receive his annuity for 20.1 years or approximately 241 months. At age 65, female

railroad retirement age annuitants have a life expectancy of 20.5 years, which is 2.8 years longer

than males at the same age. Females at age 65 in the U.S. population as a whole live 2.7 years

longer on the average than males. While a female age annuitant or spouse at age 65 may expect to

live about 20.5 and 20.7 years, respectively, a widow at the same age is expected to live 18.7

years. One reason for the difference in longevity may be that a widow's life expectancy is affected

by a change in financial and social position and the intangible effect of bereavement brought on by

the employee's death.
-2-

Life expectancies for disability beneficiaries are shown below. Both those disabled from 

performing their regular occupation and those totally disabled from performing any occupation are

included. Total disabilities are those which meet the more restrictive disability standards of social

security.

Life expectanciesa at selected ages for railroad disability annuitants at retirement 

and 5 or more years after retirement

5 or more years

 Ageb At retirement after retirement

 45 c 26.2 28.1

50 23.8 24.6

55 20.4 20.8

60 16.5 17.3

65 14.1

70 11.1

75 8.5

80 6.4

a Based on experience between 2006 and 2009 anniversaries of retirement.

b Age nearest birthday.

c Data not statistically significant.

This table indicates that the life expectancy of a person newly disabled is somewhat lower than

that of a person disabled a number of years earlier. At age 55, for example, a recently disabled

person may expect to live 20.4 years on average, while one disabled 5 or more years ago has a

life expectancy of 20.8 years.

The data used to calculate life expectancy figures also provide a basis for estimating what 

proportion of the retired population may be expected to remain alive at the end of a particular

number of years in the future. The chances of survival for 5, 10, 15 and 20 years for retired

individuals are given in table 2. According to these figures, from a group of 1,000 retired male

employees at age 65, 927 will survive at least 5 years, 809 at least 10 years, 631 at least 15 years,

and 414 at least 20 years. Of female age annuitants at age 65, 560 will be alive 20 years later.

Life expectancy figures are averages for large groups. The future lifetime of a particular individual

may be longer or shorter than the life expectancy for his age group. Under the railroad retirement

system, there have been many who have received benefits for 25 years or more.
Table 1

Life expectancies at ages 60-85 for railroad

retirement beneficiaries and for the general population

Railroad Retirementa

Age annuitants Disability U.S. Populationb

Agec Males Females Annuitants Spousesd Widows Males Females

60 21.9 25.1 17.2 25.0 22.8 20.9 23.9

61 21.0 24.1 16.6 24.1 21.9 20.1 23.1

62 20.1 23.2 15.9 23.2 21.1 19.4 22.3

63 19.3 22.3 15.3 22.3 20.3 18.6 21.5

64 18.5 21.4 14.7 21.5 19.5 17.9 20.7

65 17.7 20.5 14.1 20.7 18.7 17.2 19.9

66 16.9 19.7 13.5 19.9 17.9 16.5 19.1

67 16.1 18.9 12.9 19.1 17.2 15.8 18.3

68 15.4 18.1 12.3 18.4 16.5 15.1 17.5

69 14.6 17.4 11.7 17.6 15.8 14.4 16.8

70 13.9 16.5 11.1 16.9 15.2 13.7 16.0

71 13.2 15.8 10.5 16.2 14.6 13.1 15.3

72 12.5 15.0 10.0 15.4 13.9 12.4 14.5

73 11.8 14.2 9.5 14.7 13.3 11.8 13.8

74 11.2 13.5 9.0 14.0 12.6 11.2 13.1

75 10.5 12.8 8.5 13.3 12.0 10.6 12.5

76 9.9 12.1 8.1 12.6 11.4 10.0 11.8

77 9.4 11.5 7.6 11.9 10.8 9.5 11.2

78 8.8 10.8 7.2 11.2 10.2 8.9 10.5

79 8.3 10.2 6.8 10.6 9.6 8.4 10.0

80 7.7 9.5 6.4 10.0 9.1 7.9 9.4

81 7.2 8.9 6.0 9.4 8.5 7.5 8.8

82 6.8 8.3 5.7 8.8 8.0 7.0 8.3

83 6.3 7.8 5.3 8.2 7.5 6.6 7.8

84 5.9 7.3 5.0 7.7 7.0 6.2 7.3

85 5.5 6.8 4.7 7.1 6.5 5.8 6.8

a

 Based on experience between anniversaries of retirement in 2006 and 2009 for all annuitants.

 b U.S. Life Tables for 2007 from Tables 2 and 3, National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 59, No. 9, 

 Sept. 28, 2011, United States Public Health Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human

 Services.

c

 For railroad retirement data, age basis is age nearest birthday at beginning of policy year; for U.S.

 population data, age basis is exact age.

d

 About 95 percent of spouses are female.
Table 2

Chances of survival for specified periods, 

by age and category of railroad retirement beneficiary

Number alive per 1,000 after Number alive per 1,000 after

Agea 5 years 10 years 15 years 20 years 5 years 10 years 15 years 20 years

Male age annuitants Female age annuitants

60 959 889 776 606 979 927 851 729

65 927 809 631 414 947 869 745 560

70 873 681 447 213 918 786 591 352

75 780 512 244 71 857 644 383 152

Spouses Widows

60 967 907 826 713 955 875 766 628

65 938 854 737 569 917 802 657 477

70 911 786 607 380 875 717 521 296

75 863 667 418 171 820 595 338 129

All disability annuitants

60 886 757 587 396

65 854 662 447 243

70 775 523 284 114

75 675 367 147 37

Disabled annuitants

Disability annuitants at retirement disabled 5 or more years

45 878 831 766 684 947 896 827 739

50 915 844 754 644 946 873 780 666

55 906 809 691 536 922 824 704 546

60 846 723 560 378 893 763 591 399

65 b b b b 854 662 447 243

70 b b b b 775 523 284 114

75 b b b b 675 367 147 37

a Age nearest birthday approximates exact age.

b Not applicable. Disability annuities not awarded on or after 65th birthday.