Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe

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 and social and family networks of approximately 123,000 individuals (more than 293,000 interviews) from 20 European countries (+Israel) aged 50 or older. SHARE’s scientific power is based on its panel design that grasps the dynamic character of the ageing process.

Overview

Acronym
SHARE
Website
SHARE
Investigators
Prof. Axel Börsch-Supan
Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy
Prof. Guglielmo Weber
Università degli Studi di Padova
Dr. Annette Scherpenzeel
Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy
Dr. Frederic Malter
Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy
Contacts
Prof. Axel Börsch-Supan
Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy

General Design

Study design
Cohort
Start - End Year
2004 -
General Information on Follow Up (profile, frequency)
Information is collected every 2 years. Most participating countries managed to stick to the schedule.
Recruitment Target
  • Individuals
Number of Participants
No Limit
Number of Participants with Biological Samples
No Limit
Supplementary information about number of participants
The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) includes over 140,000 individuals.

Access

Availability of data and biosamples

Possible Access to Data
Possible Access to Biosamples
Other

Access to the SHARE data is provided free of charge to all scientists globally. For details on how to register as a SHARE user, please visit http://www.share-project.org/data-access-documentation/research-data-center-data-access.html.

Marker Papers

Börsch-Supan A, Brandt M, Hunkler C, Kneip T, Korbmacher J, Malter F, Schaan B, Stuck S, Zuber S; SHARE Central Coordination Team. Data Resource Profile: the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). International Journal of Epidemiology, 2013; 42(4): 992-1001.

PUBMED 23778574

Timeline

Population

SHARE - Population

Participants aged 50 and over from 20 European countries plus Israel. Current partners living in the household were interviewed regardless of their age. 

The Share population has been refreshed at waves 2, 4, 5 and 6. In wave 2 a refresher sample was drawn in all first wave countries except Austria and the Flemish part of Belgium, while the Czech Republic, Ireland, and Poland participated for the first time. Cohorts born in 1955 and 1956 were oversampled in some countries to keep the sample representative of the population 50 years old and older. The target population for the refreshment samples of wave 4 (Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Denmark, Spain, France, Italy, and the Netherlands; plus baseline samples in Estonia, Hungary, Portugal, and Slovenia) consists of all persons born 1960 or earlier having their regular domicile in the respective country, together with their current partners/spouses, independently of age. The target population for the refreshment samples of wave 5 (Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Slovenia; plus baseline samples in Girona and Luxembourg) consists of all persons born 1962 or earlier, but otherwise remained the same. The target population for the refreshment samples of wave 6 (Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, and Slovenia; plus a baseline sample in Croatia) consists of all persons born 1964 or earlier, but otherwise remained the same.

The countries participating in each wave are as follows:

  • W1: Denmark, Sweden, Austria, France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Greece and Israel. 
  • W2: Denmark, Sweden, Austria, France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Greece, Israel, Czech Republic, Poland, and Ireland 
  • SHARELIFE: Denmark, Sweden, Austria, France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Greece, Czech Republic and Poland,  
  • W4: Denmark, Sweden, Austria, France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Czech Republic, Poland, Estonia, Hungary, Slovenia and Portugal
  • W5: Denmark, Sweden, Austria, France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain (including Girona), Italy, Israel, Czech Republic, Poland, Estonia, Slovenia and Luxembourg
  • W6: Denmark, Sweden, Austria, France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Spain (including Girona), Italy, Israel, Greece, Czech Republic, Poland, Estonia, Slovenia, Portugal, Luxembourg, and Croatia

Selection Criteria

Minimum age
50
Countries
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Czech Republic
  • Denmark
  • Estonia
  • France
  • Greece
  • Hungary
  • Ireland
  • Israel
  • Italy
  • Netherlands
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Slovenia
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • Germany
  • Luxembourg
  • Croatia
Other Criteria
A person is excluded if she or he is incarcerated, hospitalized or out of the country during the entire survey period, unable to speak the country’s language(s) or has moved to an unknown address.

Sources of Recruitment

General Population
  • Selected sample
Supplementary Information
SHARE is a multinational survey, which involves differences in sampling resources between countries. Most SHARE countries have access to population registers.

Sample Size

Number of Participants
No Limit
Supplementary information about number of participants

Wave 1: 31 115 participants

Wave 2: 34 415 participants

Wave 3: 26 836 participants

Wave 4 : 58 489 participants

Wave 5 :

Data Collection Events

# Name Data sources Data sources - Biosamples Start End
0 SHARE - Wave 1
  • Questionnaires
  • Physical measures
2004 2004
1 SHARE - Wave 2
  • Questionnaires
  • Physical measures
2006 2006
2 SHARE - Wave 3 (SHARELIFE)
  • Questionnaires
  • Administrative databases
2008 2008
3 SHARE - Wave 4
  • Questionnaires
  • Physical measures
2010 2010
4 SHARE - Wave 5
  • Questionnaires
  • Physical measures
2013 2013
5 SHARE - Wave 6
  • Questionnaires
  • Physical measures
  • Biosamples
  • Blood
2015 2015

Participating Studies

Acronym Name Study design Countries

Harmonization Initiatives Included

Acronym Name

Datasets

Name Data Collection Events Variables

Areas of Information Collected

Socio-demographic and economic characteristics
Death
Lifestyle and behaviours
Physical measures and assessments
Birth, pregnancy and reproductive health history
Laboratory measures
Perception of health, quality of life, development and functional limitations
Cognition, personality and psychological measures and assessments
Diseases
Life events, life plans, beliefs and values
Symptoms and signs
Preschool, school and work life
Medication and supplements
Social environment and relationships
Non-pharmacological interventions
Physical environment
Health and community care services utilization
Administrative information

Variables Content Summary

Areas of Information Collected
No Areas of Information Collected
No Scales Collected
Areas of Information Collected per per Population and Data Collection Event
No Areas of Information Collected
No Scales Collected

Networks

Acronym Name Harmonization Initiatives Individual Studies
Last Update: 2026-02-20T15:33:57.560