The Kannisto-Thatcher database on old age mortality (K-T database) includes data on death counts
and population counts classified by sex, age, year of birth, and calendar year for more than 30 countries.
This database was established for estimating the death rates at the highest ages (above age 80).
The core set of data in the database was assembled, tested for quality, and converted into cohort
mortality histories by Väinö Kannisto, the former United Nations advisor on demographic and social
statistics.
Comparable materials on England and Wales, was made available by A. Roger Thatcher,
the former Director of the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys and Registrar-General of
England and Wales [Kannisto, 1994]. With research funding provided by the U.S. National Institute
on Aging and the Danish Research Councils, the Kannisto-Thatcher data base was computerized under
the supervision of James W. Vaupel at the Aging Research Unit of the Centre for Health and Social
Policy at Odense University Medical School in 1993.
Currently, the database is maintained by the
Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Germany.
Kannisto, Väinö Development of Oldest-Old Mortality, 1950-1990: Evidence from 28 Developed Countries. Odense University Press, Odense, 1994; ISBN: 87 7838 015 4.
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