Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe


Institute	Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA), Max-Planck-Institute for Social Law and Social Policy/ Survey of Health Ageing and Retirement in Europe
Address	Amalienstrasse 33 80799 Munich Germany
Website	www.share-project.org

The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) is a multidisciplinary and cross-national panel database of micro data on health, socio-economic status as well as social and family networks of more than 45,000 individuals aged 50 or over. As such, it responds to a Communication by the European Commission calling to "examine the possibility of establishing, in co-operation with Member States, a European Longitudinal Ageing Survey". By now SHARE has become a major pillar of the European Research Area

European Research Area

The European Research Area is a system of scientific research programmes integrating the scientific resources of the European Union . Since its inception in 2000, the structure has been concentrated on multi-national co-operation in the fields of medical, environmental, industrial and...

and in 2008 was selected as one of the projects to be implemented in the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures

European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures

The European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures is an organization in Europe.ESFRI is a strategic instrument to develop the scientific integration of Europe and to strengthen its international outreach...

(ESFRI).

ABOUT SHARE

Founded in 2002, SHARE is coordinated centrally at the Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA), Max-Planck-Institute for Social Law and Social Policy by Prof. Axel Börsch-Supan, Ph. D. with substantial central tasks also in Italy and the Netherlands. It is a collaborative effort of more than 150 researchers worldwide organized in multidisciplinary national teams and cross-national working groups. A Scientific Monitoring Board composed of eminent international researchers and a network of advisors help to maintain and improve the project’s high scientific standards.

SHARE is harmonized with its role models and sister studies the U.S. Health and Retirement Study

Health and Retirement Study

The Health and Retirement Study is conducted by the at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and supported by the National Institute on Aging . The study interviews 22,000 Americans 50 and over every two years on subjects like health care, housing, assets, pensions , employment and...

(HRS) and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

The English Longitudinal Study of Ageing is a longitudinal study that collects multidisciplinary data from a representative sample of the English population aged 50 and older. The survey data are designed to be used for the investigation of a broad set of topics relevant to understanding the...

(ELSA), and has the advantage of encompassing cross-national variation in public policy, culture and history across a variety of European countries. Its scientific power is based on its panel design that grasps the dynamic character of the ageing process. SHARE’s multi-disciplinary approach delivers the full picture of the ageing process. Rigorous procedural guidelines and programs ensure an ex-ante harmonized cross-national design.
Data collected include health variables (e.g. self-reported health, health conditions, physical and cognitive functioning, health behaviour, use of health care facilities), biomarkers (e.g. grip strength, body-mass index, peak flow), psychological variables (e.g. psychological health, well-being, life satisfaction), economic variables (current work activity, job characteristics, opportunities to work past retirement age, sources and composition of current income, wealth and consumption, housing, education), and social support variables (e.g. assistance within families, transfers of incomes and assets, social networks, volunteer activities). In addition, the SHARE data base features anchoring vignettes from the COMPARE project and variables and indicators created by the AMANDA RTD-Project. The data are available to the entire research community free of charge.

Economic Situation, Income and Retirement

Analyses based on SHARE reveal enormous differences in income adequacy across Europe. Income is considered least adequate in the Eastern European countries Poland and the Czech Republic, in the Southern European countries Greece, Italy and Spain, and in Israel. In these countries, more than 50 percent of all households report difficulties in making ends meet. Income is considered most adequate in Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Here, less than 20 percent of the households find it difficult to make ends meet.

Also employment and retirement patterns differ significantly between European countries. The percentage of the working population with work effort exceeding rewards is particularly high in Poland and Greece. Correspondingly, self-reported early retirement intentions are also above average. Contrary to these countries, quality of work in terms of effort-reward balance is high on average in the Nordic countries, in the Netherlands and in Switzerland. These countries also have the lowest percentage of older workers seeking early retirement.

Family

Availability of kin support largely depends in general on geographic accessibility and social contact. The SHARE data confirm, on the one hand, the existence of longstanding regional patterns of ‘weak’ and ‘strong’ family ties, while, on the other hand, they reveal many similarities across Europe. In all countries – and across all age groups – 85 percent of all parents have at least one child living at a distance of at most 25 km. Moreover, the share of parents with less than weekly contacts to a child is equally low (7 %) in Sweden and in Spain.

These results provide no evidence to support the notion of a ‘decline’ of parent-child relations in ageing Europe at the beginning of the 21st century.

Health

SHARE data document a strong relationship between education and health among the older population. This holds not only on the individual level (better educated individuals are healthier than less educated) but also across European nations. Comparing average education and average health levels in SHARE countries reveals that in particular the East European and Mediterranean countries are characterised by low levels of education and health simultaneously. In contrast, populations in Northern European countries and Switzerland are both healthier and better educated than the average.

WAVES OF DATA COLLECTION

By now three waves have been arranged to collect information from people aged 50 and over in different countries of Europe, funded by the European Commission (through the Framework programmes 5, 6 and 7, the National Institute on Aging and various national sources. The fourth wave is operated in 2010 and 2011.

Wave 1 (2004)

Eleven European countries have contributed data to the 2004 SHARE baseline study. They constitute a balanced representation of the various regions in Europe, ranging from Scandinavia (Denmark and Sweden) through Central Europe (Austria, France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, and the Netherlands) to the Mediterranean (Spain, Italy and Greece). Israel joined the SHARE framework in late 2004, being the first country in the Middle East to initiate a systematic study of its aging population.
This SHARE main questionnaire consists of 20 modules on health, socio-economics and social networks. All data are collected by face-to-face, computer-aided personal interviews (CAPI), supplemented by a self-completion paper and pencil questionnaire.

Wave 2 (2006-07)

Two 'new' EU member states - the Czech Republic and Poland - as well as Ireland have joined SHARE in 2006 and participated in the second wave of data collection in 2006-07.
In addition to the SHARE 2006 main questionnaire an ‘End of Life’ interview was conducted for family members of deceased respondents.

Wave 3 / SHARELIFE (2008-09)

SHARELIFE is the third wave of data collection for SHARE, which focuses on people's life histories. 30,000 men and women across 13 European countries took part in this round of the survey.
SHARELIFE links individual micro data over the respondents’ entire life with institutional macro data on the welfare state. It thereby allows assessing the full effect of welfare state interventions on the life of the individual. Changes in institutional settings that influence individual decisions are of specific interest to evaluate policies throughout Europe.
The SHARELIFE questionnaire contains all important areas of the respondents’ lives, ranging from partners and children over housing and work history to detailed questions on health and health care. With this variety SHARELIFE constitutes an ideal interdisciplinary dataset for research in the fields of sociology, economics, gerontology, and demography.
The SHARELIFE life history data can be linked to the first two waves of SHARE assessing the present living conditions of older Europeans. First results can be found here.

Wave 4 (2010-11)

In the fourth wave which started in autumn 2010, Estonia, Hungary, Luxemburg, Portugal and Slovenia joined the SHARE survey. In the other European countries the national samples will be enlarged, and a new social network module has been added to the main questionnaire. In the German study, three additional projects including innovative biomarkers (e.g. dried bloodspots), the linkage with the German pension data as well as nonresponse experiments will be implemented: The data of wave 4 will be available in 2012.
More details can be found here:

RELATED STUDIES AND PROJECTS

The SHARE-Study is not the only study engaging in suchlike fields of research - it has a number of sister studies all over the world dealing with these subjects like ageing

Ageing

Ageing or aging is the accumulation of changes in a person over time. Ageing in humans refers to a multidimensional process of physical, psychological, and social change. Some dimensions of ageing grow and expand over time, while others decline...

, pensions, retirement

Retirement

Retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours.Many people choose to retire when they are eligible for private or public pension benefits, although some are forced to retire when physical conditions don't allow the person to...

and population aging in general. Analogue studies following the SHARE model are for instance "The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing” (TILDA), "The Longitudinal Aging Study in India” (LASI), "The Japanese Study of Aging and Retirement” (JSTAR), SHARE Israel

SHARE Israel

SHARE-Israel is the Israeli component of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe.-History:Israel joined the SHARE framework in late 2004, becoming the first country in the Middle East to initiate systematic study of its aging population in the American Health and Retirement Study ...

, “The Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging” (KLoSA), “Chinese Health and Retirement Survey

Chinese Health and Retirement Survey

The Chinese Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study is a longitudinal survey being conducted by the China Center for Economic Research at Peking University with Professor Yaohui Zhao of Peking University serving as Principal Investigator and Professors John Strauss of the University of Southern...

” (CHARLS) und “Mexican Health and Aging Study

Mexican Health and Aging Study

The Mexican Health and Aging Study was the first panel study of health and aging in Mexico. MHAS was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Aging...

” (MHAS), Health and Retirement Study

Health and Retirement Study

(HRS) in USA, English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

(ELSA) in United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health by World Health Organization

World Health Organization

The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...

in China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, Ghana

Ghana

Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, Russian Federation and South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

EXTERNAL LINKS

SHARE Coordination: Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA), Max-Planck-Institute for Social Law and Social Policy

SHARE Project Family:

SHARE Countries:

AUSTRIA

SHARE sister studies:

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