People around the world are living longer while fertility has been declining in the great majority of countries. Increasing the length of working lives is a commonly sought remedy to deal, at least in part, with the financial consequences for the public welfare system of longer lives. A crucial question is whether people are physically and mentally capable of working until continuously higher ages, i.e. whether the planned or already implemented increases in official retirement ages will be faced by persons of good health. Hence, it is important to not only look at the development of working lives and focus on lengthening them but, at the same time, to take a close look at developments of the health status of people around retirement ages.

An existing indicator that can be used to monitor developments of working life for people at any age is working life expectancy (WLE). The calculation and analysis of WLE has relevance in itself, but it is the combination of WLE with analyses of health indicators that are gaining prominence, particularly in the context of aging societies. Simultaneous consideration of both dimensions – economic activity and health – is useful for a range of reasons