Actuarial Notes

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U.S. Railroad Retirement Board Bureau of the Actuary and Research

No. 1 - 18

December 2018

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-Seventh Actuarial Valuation of the railroad retirement

system, which was made as of December 31, 2016. These studies have been conducted for male

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

studies done for the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth 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 aged widows, another event, such as death of the employee or remarriage of the

the aged 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 18.3 years or approximately 220 months; while one retiring at age 62 may

expect to receive his annuity for 20.8 years or approximately 250 months. At age 65, female

railroad retirement age annuitants have a life expectancy of 21.1 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 2.6 years

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

live about 21.1 and 21.0 years, respectively, an aged widow at the same age is expected to live 

19.0 years. One reason for the difference in longevity may be that an aged widow's life expectancy 

is affected by a change in financial and social position and the intangible effect of bereavement

brought on by the husband'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 28.1 28.4

50 24.4 25.2

55 20.6 21.5

60 17.3 18.1

65 14.9

70 11.8

75 9.2

80 6.9

a Based on experience between 2012 and 2015 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 20.6 years on average, while one disabled 5 or more years ago has a

life expectancy of 21.5 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, 933 will survive at least 5 years, 822 at least 10 years, 658 at least 15 years,

and 448 at least 20 years. Of female age annuitants at age 65, 578 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 30 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 Aged U.S. Populationb

Agec Males Females Annuitants Spousesd Widowse Males Females

60 22.5 25.6 18.0 25.4 23.0 21.7 24.6

61 21.6 24.7 17.4 24.5 22.2 20.9 23.8

62 20.8 23.7 16.8 23.6 21.3 20.1 22.9

63 19.9 22.8 16.1 22.7 20.5 19.4 22.1

64 19.1 22.0 15.5 21.9 19.7 18.7 21.3

65 18.3 21.1 14.9 21.0 19.0 17.9 20.5

66 17.5 20.3 14.3 20.2 18.2 17.2 19.7

67 16.7 19.5 13.6 19.4 17.5 16.5 18.9

68 15.9 18.6 13.0 18.6 16.7 15.8 18.1

69 15.1 17.8 12.4 17.8 16.0 15.1 17.3

70 14.4 16.9 11.8 17.0 15.3 14.4 16.6

71 13.7 16.1 11.3 16.3 14.6 13.7 15.8

72 13.0 15.3 10.7 15.5 14.0 13.1 15.1

73 12.3 14.5 10.2 14.8 13.3 12.4 14.4

74 11.6 13.8 9.7 14.1 12.6 11.8 13.6

75 11.0 13.0 9.2 13.3 12.0 11.2 12.9

76 10.4 12.3 8.7 12.6 11.4 10.5 12.3

77 9.8 11.6 8.2 12.0 10.8 10.0 11.6

78 9.2 11.0 7.7 11.3 10.2 9.4 10.9

79 8.6 10.4 7.3 10.7 9.6 8.8 10.3

80 8.1 9.9 6.9 10.1 9.1 8.3 9.7

81 7.5 9.3 6.6 9.5 8.6 7.8 9.1

82 7.0 8.7 6.1 8.9 8.1 7.3 8.5

83 6.5 8.1 5.7 8.3 7.6 6.8 8.0

84 6.1 7.6 5.3 7.8 7.1 6.3 7.5

85 5.6 7.1 5.0 7.3 6.7 5.9 7.0

a

 Based on experience between anniversaries of retirement in 2012 and 2015 for all annuitants.

b

 Tables 2 and 3, United States Life Tables, 2013, National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 66, No. 3,

 April 11, 2017.

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 94 percent of spouses are female.

 e Includes widowers. About 99 percent of aged widows and widowers 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

60 965 900 793 635 977 938 868 737

65 933 822 658 448 960 889 755 578

70 881 705 480 237 926 786 602 380

75 801 545 269 82 849 650 411 165

Spouses Aged Widows

60 972 922 845 727 956 882 778 634

65 949 869 747 577 923 815 664 480

70 916 788 608 386 883 719 520 305

75 860 663 421 182 815 589 345 133

All disability annuitants

60 888 769 611 434

65 866 688 489 288

70 794 564 333 142

75 710 419 179 47

Disabled annuitants

Disability annuitants at retirement disabled 5 or more years

45 923 872 804 718 937 885 816 729

50 912 841 751 651 944 871 778 674

55 881 787 682 541 922 824 714 567

60 848 735 584 414 893 774 615 436

65 b b b b 867 688 489 288

70 c c c c 794 564 333 142

75 c c c c 710 419 179 47

a

 Age nearest birthday approximates exact age.

b

 Insufficient data.

c

 Not applicable. Disability annuities are not awarded after normal retirement age.