Born in Paris on 26 January 1957, Didier Blanchet began his career as a researcher at the Institut national d'études démographiques, from 1978 to 1993. He was a research fellow and then research director. He joined INSEE in 1993 as head of the "Redistribution and Social Policies" division. He spent the rest of his career at INSEE, where his last post was Director of Economic Studies and Syntheses. He was a member of the Conseil d'orientation des retraites from 2001 to 2014, a member of the Commission pour l'avenir des retraites in 2013, and a member of the Comité de suivi des retraites since its creation. He was the French coordinator of the first wave of the European Share survey (Survey on health, ageing and retirement in Europe), and co-rapporteur for the Commission on Measuring the Economic Performance of Social Progress ("Stiglitz" Commission). He is the author of numerous articles on the economics of pensions and social protection. He holds a doctorate and a habilitation to direct research from the Institut d'études politiques de Paris. He is also an alumnus of the École Polytechnique and the École nationale de la statistique et de l'administration économique. Today he is retired from INSEE, but remains a research affiliate at L’Institute Polytechnique de Paris.