Estimating Mortality at Extreme Ages. Does Data Structure Matter? Evidence from Italian Women Aged 105+

Using classic parametric mortality models, including the Gompertz and exponential models, we evaluate how the absence of survivor data affects parameter estimates, uncertainty, and model-based conclusions. By systematically contrasting truncated and non-truncated settings, this study provides a robust empirical foundation for contexts where only death data are available and contributes new evidence to the debate on whether human mortality reaches a plateau among the oldest-old.