Table 1.
Demographic and baseline characteristics of participants in the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) between 2004–2005 and 2015
| All countries | Northern Europea | Western Europeb | Southern Europec | Eastern Europed | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men | Women | Men | Women | Men | Women | Men | Women | Men | Women | |
| N (%) individuals | 51,292 (45.3) | 62,007 (54.7) | 5716 (46.9) | 6464 (53.1) | 21,091 (45.7) | 25,021 (54.3) | 11,626 (45.8) | 13,746 (54.2) | 12,859 (43.4) | 16,776 (56.6) |
| N (%) observations | 108,985 (44.6) | 135,273 (55.4) | 13,979 (46.4) | 16,120 (53.6) | 46,664 (45.1) | 56,736 (54.9) | 24,230 (45.4) | 29,168 (54.6) | 24,112 (42.0) | 33,249 (58.0) |
| Mean age (SD) | 66.2 (9.7) | 66.3 (10.3) | 66.6 (9.8) | 66.4 (10.3) | 65.6 (9.8) | 65.9 (10.4) | 67.1 (9.9) | 66.8 (10.6) | 66.1 (9.3) | 66.7 (9.9) |
| Respondent, N (%) # | ||||||||||
| Respondent onlye | 102,631 (94.5) | 128,988 (95.6) | 13,490 (96.7) | 15,731 (97.7) | 44,096 (94.9) | 54,241 (95.9) | 22,468 (92.9) | 27,004 (92.8) | 22,577 (93.9) | 32,012 (96.5) |
| Respondent + proxyf | 3079 (2.8) | 3006 (2.2) | 305 (2.2) | 204 (1.3) | 1447 (3.1) | 1322 (2.3) | 699 (2.9) | 928 (3.2) | 628 (2.6) | 552 (1.7) |
| Proxy onlyg | 2940 (2.7) | 2919 (2.2) | 157 (1.1) | 165 (1.0) | 936 (2.0) | 972 (1.7) | 1007 (4.2) | 1175 (4.0) | 840 (3.5) | 607 (1.8) |
| Education, N (%) | ||||||||||
| Lower | 41,845 (39.0) | 63,020 (47.3) | 4164 (30.4) | 5374 (33.9) | 12,976 (28.3) | 22,769 (40.8) | 16,560 (69.7) | 21,751 (76.1) | 8145 (34.2) | 13,126 (39.9) |
| Medium or higher | 65,307 (60.9) | 70,132 (52.7) | 9542 (69.6) | 10,494 (66.1) | 32,876 (71.7) | 33,014 (59.2) | 7199 (30.3) | 6829 (23.9) | 15,690 (65.8) | 19,795 (60.1) |
| Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) | ||||||||||
| ADL, N with 1+ limitations (%) # | 11,295 (10.4) | 17,203 (12.8) | 1213 (8.7) | 1477 (9.2) | 4662 (10.0) | 6761 (12.0) | 2288 (9.5) | 4109 (14.1) | 3132 (13.0) | 4856 (14.7) |
| IADL, N with 1+ limitations (%) # | 14,500 (13.4) | 28,402 (21.1) | 1504 (10.8) | 2641 (16.4) | 5733 (12.3) | 11,106 (19.7) | 3254 (13.5) | 6823 (23.4) | 4009 (16.7) | 7832 (23.6) |
aDenmark and Sweden
bAustria, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Ireland and Luxembourg
cSpain Italy, Greece and Portugal
dCzech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Estonia and Croatia
eInterview performed by respondent only without help from a proxy
fThe respondent is assisted by a proxy respondent to complete the interview
gThe proxy respondent completes the entire questionnaire of the respondent
# Missing data are excluded from percentage calculations