Canadian Mortality Improvements

Examining the differences in mortality trends between DB pensioners and the general population

Club Vita’s latest research indicates that defined benefit (DB) pension plan members have experienced higher improvements in mortality rates in recent years than the general Canadian population. Compared to the new Canadian Institute of Actuaries improvement scale CIA-MI-2024, men aged 65 to 94 saw an annual amounts-weighted improvement rate which was 0.2% p.a. higher than the general population over the period 2006 to 2018 and 0.6% higher over the period 2013 to 2018 (for women 0.3% and 0.2% respectively).

Diving deeper, pensioners of higher socio-economic status have experienced even faster improvements, while those of lower socio-economic status have seen slower improvements over the age range and full period studied. This raises the question of whether mortality improvement scales based on general population data — such as the new CIA-MI-2024—should be adjusted when projecting mortality rates for certain groups of DB pensioners. This paper compares mortality trends from Club Vita’s extensive DB pensioner dataset to general population data and improvement rates in the CIA-MI-2024 model, highlighting key considerations for projecting future mortality rates for the pensioner populations.