Retirement and Length of Life

Selected for study were the officers of the regular Army and Air Force who lived in retirement during the years 1925-1948 inclusive.1 Of the 1O,001 officers selected, 1,906 were already in retirement on January 1, 1925, and 8,095 more retired between that date and December 31, 1948. During these 24 vears 2,798 died, leaving 7,203 living at the end of the period. The selected population was characterized by broad ranges of birth dates (1831-1925), dates of entry into the service (1850-1943), and dates of retirement (1868-1948). However, the bulk of the population was actually more homogeneous than these ranges indicated. Some 61 percent were born in the 20-year period 1875-1894; 78.6 percent entere(1 service in the 25 years 1895-1919; and 92.5 percent of the retirements occurred after 1920. Most retirements w ere concen-trated in ages 50-64 (Figure 1). Bearing close relationship to age were length of active (luty an(l grade. Active (luty of at least 25 years had been experienced by the large majority with greatest concen-trations in the range 25-44 years.2 Nearly 60 percenit of all retirements were in gra(le of colonel or above; those remaining wvere principally lieuteniant colonlels and majors (Table 1)

Demographic economics · Economics · Sociology · Insurance, Mortality, Demography, Risk Management · Medicine · Psychology · Retirement, Disability, and Employment · Gerontology

• Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

  Open Access•Ross M Stolzenberg•Demography•2011

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