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. 2005 Dec 2;2(4):245-253.
doi: 10.1007/s10433-005-0014-9. eCollection 2005 Dec.

A new comprehensive and international view on ageing: introducing the 'Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe'

Axel Börsch-Supan  1 , Karsten Hank  1 , Hendrik Jürges  1
Affiliations

A new comprehensive and international view on ageing: introducing the 'Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe'

Axel Börsch-Supan et al. Eur J Ageing. .

Abstract

This paper introduces the 'Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe' (SHARE) to researchers on ageing. SHARE provides an infrastructure to help researchers better understand the individual and population ageing process: where we are, where we are heading to, and how we can influence the quality of life as we age, both as individuals and as societies. The baseline wave in 2004 provides data on the life circumstances of some 27,000 persons aged 50 and over in 11 European countries, ranging from Scandinavia across Western and Central Europe to the Mediterranean. SHARE has made great efforts to deliver truly comparable data, so we can reliably study how differences in cultures, living conditions and policy approaches shape the life of Europeans just before and after retirement. The paper first describes the SHARE data. In order to demonstrate its value, it then presents highlights from the three main research areas covered by SHARE, namely economics, sociology, and health.

Keywords: Ageing; Cross-national research; Europe; SHARE.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Disability insurance take-up in the SHARE countries. aCountries are arranged in a north-to-south order
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Spatial pattern of volunteer work in the SHARE countries
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Distribution of health indicators by SHARE country. aCountries are ordered from highest value (left) to lowest value (right). AT Austria, CH Switzerland, DE Germany, DK Denmark, ES Spain, FR France, GR Greece, IT Italy, NL Netherlands, SE Sweden
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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