Modelling Joint Lifetimes of Couples by Using Bivariate Phase-type Distributions

Abstract: Many insurance products and pension plans provide benefits which are related to couples, and thus under influence of the survival status of two lives. Some studies show the future lifetime of couples is correlated. Three reasons are available to confirm this fact: (1) catastrophe events that affect both lives, (2) the impact of spousal death and (3) the long-term association due to common life style. Dependence between lifetimes of couples could have a financial impact on insurance companies and pension plans providers. In this paper, we use a health index called physiological age in a Markov process context by that we model aging process of joint and last survivor statuses. Under this model, future joint lifetime of couples follows a bivariate phase-type distribution. The model has physical interpretation and closed-form expressions for actuarial quantities and owns tractable computation for the other ones. We use the model to pricing products relevant to couples annuities and life insurances.