Extreme Value Theory applied to Longevity of Humans

There has been a long discussion on whether the distribution of human longevity has a finite or infinite right support. We shall discuss some recent results on Extreme Value Theory applied to Longevity of Humans. Some basic methods of EVT will be reviewed, where discussion will be oriented towards applications on human life-span data. It turns out that the quality of the actual data is a crucial issue. The results are based on data sets from the International Database on Longevity.

Joint work with Fei Huang (RSFAS, College of Business and Economics, Australian National University).