The project began as an outgrowth of earlier projects in the Department of Demography at the University of California, Berkeley, USA, and at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany (see history). It is the work of two teams of researchers in the USA and Germany (see research teams), with the help of financial backers and scientific collaborators from around the world (see acknowledgements). The French Institute for Demographic Studies (INED) has also supported the further development of the database in recent years.

The International Database on Longevity (IDL) is the result of an ongoing concerted effort to provide thoroughly validated information on individuals who attain extreme ages. Originally, the data were collected on individuals who attained an age of 110 years or more - so called supercentenarians. In the meantime the data collection has been extended to include younger ages for some countries.

The information entered into the IDL is supplied by a group of international contributors. The data collection is performed in such a way that age-ascertainment bias is avoided and detailed meta-data are given for each country. This information is essential for valid demographic analyses.

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