The continent sometimes called “old Europe” has the largest proportion of elderly citizens, and that tendency will only get worse during this century. Only Japan is experiencing a similar development of its “pyramid of ages”, with an increasing proportion of over-50s (this group already comprises 35% of the current population of Belgium). The causes are known: lower fecundity and longer life expectancy. But the consequences make the challenges more serious, and still other questions are raised: how many “older” workers will society employ? What is the effect of retirement on health (and vice versa)? How can we deal with a larger number of dependent elderly, and manage the budgets for social spending?

In order to understand population trends better and guide the policies of the future, Europe has created an ambitious statistical tool called SHARE(1), which is a large database keeping up with more than 40,000 people age 50 and up, located in 15 European countries. This is a large scale, long-term study of people’s health, ageing and retirement in Europe, about to undertake its third “wave” of data-gathering (the first was in 2004-2005), and researchers all over Europe are participating. In French-speaking Belgium, Prof. Sergio Perelman(2) of the University of Liège is responsible for a programme called CREPP, the Centre for Research in public economics and population (the University of Antwerp is handling the Dutch-speaking part of the project). A team called the Family Demographics Panel is responsible for collecting data from a sample of 1200 persons at this time (approximately 800 households in Wallonia and Brussels). The families providing the data in a long-term study are always the same, so that the longitudinal change of results can be followed. The questions asked of those surveyed, which are quite varied, are the same ones asked of survey participants in other countries. The questions concern jobs, mental and physical health, income, property, social and family relationships, activities outside work, etc. The survey also includes physical testing (wrist strength, lung capacity, etc.) and cognitive testing (memory, verbal fluency, etc.). The current survey (2008-2009) is concentrating on life histories and careers.

SHARE is a counterpart of the American database HRS and the British database ELSA. As such, Perelman says, it is “a living laboratory of the ageing process in Europe”, a reference tool that more than 1000 researchers in the world have already made use of – the data are available free online – in order to assist them in new studies in the human sciences (economics, sociology, demography, public health, psychology, etc.). The project answers a need so vital that the European Union has decided to keep it going, conferring upon the project the status of research infrastructure in the human sciences. But although Europe has assumed a large portion of the financing, member States must also contribute. In Belgium, this takes place via the Federal Scientific Policy. “Discussions are going on so that we can renew our credits for the next few years by associating other institutions with the project,” Prof. Perelman explains.

(1) Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Le projet SHARE est consultable sur le site www.share-project.org

(2) Pr Sergio Perelman is the Country Team Leader for the franch-speaking part of Belgium. sergio.perelman@ulg.ac.be