The existence of an upper limit to the human lifespan has been widely debated, with studies offering both supporting and opposing evidence. Using unique individual-level death and population records for individuals aged 90 and older in Belgium and the Netherlands between 1995 and 2022, we provide statistical evidence supporting the existence of an upper limit. A related yet unexplored question is whether this life span limit differs across socio-demographic groups. Our microdata include information on the sex, origin, civil status, type of household, and education level of each individual. Using tools from extreme value theory, we quantify and compare the upper tail of human lifespan distributions across these socio-demographic characteristics. We find that men have a statistically lower maximum lifespan than women and that individuals who are widowed or live in institutional households have a clearly lower maximum lifespan. Finally, individuals of non-Western European origin and those with higher educational attainment exhibit longer maximum lifespans.

翻译：人类寿命是否存在上限一直是广泛争论的议题，既有研究提供支持证据，亦有研究提出反对意见。本研究利用比利时与荷兰两国1995年至2022年间90岁及以上老年群体的个体层面死亡记录与人口登记数据，提供了支持寿命上限存在的统计证据。一个相关但尚未探索的问题是：这一寿命上限是否因社会人口学群体而异？我们的微观数据包含每位个体的性别、籍贯、婚姻状况、家庭类型及教育水平等信息。通过运用极值理论工具，我们量化并比较了不同社会人口学特征人群寿命分布的上尾特征。研究发现：男性寿命上限在统计上显著低于女性；丧偶者与居住在机构家庭（如养老院）的个体寿命上限显著较低；值得注意的是，非西欧裔个体及高学历人群展现出更长的寿命上限。