This is an application for funds to support a scientific meeting organized by the Laboratory of Populations at the Rockefeller University and the Committee on Longevity and Health of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP), in collaboration with United Nations Population Division. This meeting will focus on the increase in human longevity, in particular, the lengthening of survival at old ages. A substantial decline in old-age mortality started in many economically developed countries during the third quarter of the twentieth century, and increased the oldest-old population. The objective of this meeting is to review and discuss latest empirical findings and theories about trends, causes, differentials and future prospects of the longevity expansion, as well as the quality of life of the oldest old, thereby stimulating and encouraging further investigation. Although the decline of old-age mortality has been widely publicized as a demographic fact, our understanding of why the decline has occurred is limited. It is possible to develop a long list of factors that might have contributed to the lengthening of old-age survival, but relative importance of those factors and causal pathways through which many of the factors exerted their effects remain unclear. This meeting will discuss (1) recent trends of old-age mortality decline and old-age health improvement, (2) major causes of the old-age mortality decline, (3) future prospects of old-age mortality decline, and (4) well-being of the oldest old in the context of old-age survival expansion. This meeting will be held at the Rockefeller University in the New York City on October 20-22, 2003. 27 papers will be presented in three days and selected papers will be edited and compiled for publication.
