A higher life expectancy at age 65 is considered an indicator of better overall health of the older population.
Cumulative number of person-years lived by persons age 65 and older, divided by the number of persons age 65 and older in the initial cohort.
A period life table approach is used, applying the age- and sex-specific mortality rates for a given reference period to a hypothetical cohort. Life tables are usually constructed separately for men and women because of their different mortality rates.
Population age 65 in an initial cohort of 100,000 people
Cumulative number of person-years lived by persons age 65 and older, for a cohort of 100,000 persons.
Age- and sex-specific mortality rates corresponding to the reference period are applied to a hypothetical cohort, typically of 100,000.
Starting at age 65, the probability of dying at each age or age interval is applied to the number of people surviving to that age or to the beginning of the age interval, respectively.
Comments
Life expectancy at age 65 does not provide information about the quality of life of the older population. Other measures have been developed using a composite of morbidity and mortality data. For example, health-adjusted life expectancy (HALE) at age 65 is the average number of remaining years that an individual is expected to live in a healthy state (PHAC, 2012).
Indicator results are based on three years of pooled data. The reference point reflects the mid-point of a three-year period.