| Summary: | <b>Background</b>: The growing interest in pathways, the increased availability of life-history data,innovations in statistical and demographic techniques, and advances in softwaretechnology have stimulated the development of software packages for multistatemodeling of life histories. <b>Objective</b>: In the paper we list and briefly discuss several software packages for multistate analysisof life-history data. The packages cover the estimation of multistate models (transitionrates and transition probabilities), multistate life tables, multistate populationprojections, and microsimulation. <b>Methods</b>: Brief description of software packages in a historical and comparative perspective. <b>Results</b>: During the past 10 years the advances in multistate modeling software have beenimpressive. New computational tools accompany the development of new methods instatistics and demography. The statistical theory of counting processes is the preferredmethod for the estimation of multistate models and R is the preferred programmingplatform. <b>Conclusions</b>: Innovations in method, data, and computer technology have removed the traditionalbarriers to multistate modeling of life histories and the computation of informative lifecourseindicators. The challenge ahead of us is to model and predict individual lifehistories.
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