Sample
Based on probability samples in all participating countries, SHARE represents the non-institutionalized population aged 50 and older. Spouses are also interviewed if they are younger than 50.
Table 1 shows the breakdown of all wave 1 2004 samples (release 2.5.0) by country, sex, and age. It also displays the household response rates and the individual (i.e. within-household) response rates. The household response rate of the samples supported by the original funding from the European Commission’s 5th framework programme is 63.3 percent.
Table 1: Breakdown of all wave 1 2004 samples (release 2.5.0.) by country, sex and age.
Country | Total | Male | Female | Under 50 | 50 to 64 | 65 to 74 | 75+ | Household Response Rate* | Individual Response Rate* |
Austria | 1,893 | 783 | 1,110 | 44 | 949 | 544 | 356 | 55.6% | 87.5% |
Belgium | 3,827 | 1,741 | 2,086 | 128 | 1,947 | 992 | 760 | 39.2% | 90.5% |
Denmark | 1,707 | 771 | 936 | 92 | 916 | 369 | 330 | 63.2% | 93.0% |
France | 3,193 | 1,384 | 1,809 | 141 | 1,627 | 768 | 657 | 81.0% | 93.3% |
Germany | 3,008 | 1,380 | 1,628 | 65 | 1,569 | 887 | 486 | 63.4% | 86.2% |
Greece | 2,898 | 1,244 | 1,654 | 218 | 1,450 | 714 | 516 | 63.1% | 91.8% |
Israel | 2,598 | 1,139 | 1,459 | 97 | 1,339 | 716 | 443 | 60.1% | 83.9% |
Italy | 2,559 | 1,132 | 1,427 | 51 | 1,342 | 785 | 381 | 54.5% | 79.7% |
Netherlands | 2,979 | 1,367 | 1,612 | 102 | 1,693 | 715 | 462 | 61.6% | 87.8% |
Spain | 2,396 | 996 | 1,400 | 42 | 1,079 | 701 | 574 | 53.0% | 73.7% |
Sweden | 3,053 | 1,412 | 1,641 | 56 | 1,589 | 816 | 592 | 46.9% | 84.6% |
Switzerland | 1,004 | 462 | 542 | 42 | 505 | 252 | 204 | 38.8% | 86.9% |
Total | 31,115 | 13,811 | 17,304 | 1,078 | 16,005 | 8,259 | 5,761 | 61.6% | 85.3% |
age groups are based on birth year and interview year
With the release of wave 2, SHARE went into its longitudinal dimension, with new possibilities for data analysis when exploring variation of the same people over time. While the focus has been on re-contacting respondents from the first wave, a “refresher” sample was also drawn in all first wave countries except Austria and the Flemish part of Belgium. For the refresher sample the same sampling methods were used as in wave 1, only cohorts born in 1955 and 1956 were oversampled to keep the sample representative of the population 50 years old and older.
Table 2: Breakdown of all wave 2 2006/07 samples (release 2.5.0.) by country, sex and age.
Country | Total | Male | Female | Under 50 | 50 to 64 | 65 to 74 | 75+ |
Austria | 1,341 | 546 | 795 | 19 | 544 | 476 | 302 |
Belgium | 3,169 | 1,435 | 1,734 | 84 | 1,615 | 773 | 697 |
Czech Republic | 2,830 | 1,191 | 1,639 | 81 | 1,569 | 690 | 490 |
Denmark | 2,616 | 1,176 | 1,440 | 83 | 1,409 | 618 | 506 |
France | 2,968 | 1,273 | 1,695 | 117 | 1,518 | 718 | 615 |
Germany | 2,568 | 1,184 | 1,384 | 41 | 1,245 | 833 | 449 |
Greece Ireland | 3,243 1,134 | 1,398 514 | 1,845 620 | 162 27 | 1,624 622 | 820 282 | 636 203 |
Italy | 2,983 | 1,345 | 1,638 | 56 | 1,365 | 971 | 591 |
Netherlands | 2,661 | 1,212 | 1,449 | 46 | 1,478 | 681 | 456 |
Poland | 2,467 | 1,074 | 1,393 | 42 | 1,351 | 605 | 469 |
Spain | 2,228 | 1,003 | 1,225 | 46 | 958 | 651 | 573 |
Sweden | 2,745 | 1,267 | 1,478 | 38 | 1,294 | 808 | 605 |
Switzerland | 1,462 | 645 | 817 | 37 | 770 | 356 | 299 |
Total | 34,415 | 15,263 | 19,152 | 879 | 17,362 | 9,282 | 6,891 |
age groups are based on birth year and interview year
Table 3: Breakdown of all wave 3 2008/09 samples (SHARELIFE, release 1) by country, sex and age.
Country | Total | Male | Female | Under 50 | 50 to 64 | 65 to 74 | 75+ |
Austria | 847 | 343 | 504 | 14 | 300 | 325 | 208 |
Belgium | 2,832 | 1,267 | 1,565 | 45 | 1,280 | 758 | 747 |
Czech Republic | 1,837 | 791 | 1,082 | 24 | 922 | 568 | 359 |
Denmark | 2,141 | 958 | 1,183 | 44 | 1,090 | 556 | 451 |
France | 2,483 | 1,078 | 1,404 | 42 | 1,151 | 643 | 647 |
Germany | 1,852 | 864 | 988 | 22 | 793 | 682 | 355 |
Greece Italy | 2,951 2,492 | 1,275 1,129 | 1,676 1,363 | 84 28 | 1,414 1,030 | 787 878 | 666 556 |
Netherlands | 2,210 | 1,007 | 1,203 | 22 | 1,090 | 673 | 425 |
Poland | 1,918 | 852 | 1,066 | 22 | 1,076 | 467 | 353 |
Spain | 2,048 | 904 | 1,144 | 32 | 828 | 593 | 595 |
Sweden | 1,893 | 848 | 1,045 | 9 | 731 | 679 | 474 |
Switzerland | 1,296 | 559 | 737 | 33 | 611 | 359 | 293 |
Total | 26,836 | 11,875 | 14,960 | 421 | 12,316 | 7,968 | 6,129 |
age groups are based on birth year and interview year
Table 4: Breakdown of all wave 1 and wave 2 (longitudinal) samples (release 2.5.0) by country, sex and age.
Country | Total | Male | Female | Under 50 | 50 to 64 | 65 to 74 | 75+ |
Austria | 1,238 | 509 | 729 | 12 | 498 | 437 | 291 |
Belgium | 2,808 | 1,281 | 1,527 | 48 | 1,379 | 726 | 655 |
Denmark | 1,249 | 564 | 685 | 26 | 619 | 316 | 288 |
France | 1,999 | 848 | 1,151 | 56 | 978 | 514 | 451 |
Germany | 1,544 | 710 | 834 | 10 | 685 | 571 | 278 |
Greece | 2,280 | 966 | 1,314 | 82 | 1,076 | 609 | 513 |
Italy | 1,766 | 765 | 1,001 | 12 | 762 | 614 | 378 |
Netherlands | 1,777 | 804 | 973 | 15 | 893 | 516 | 353 |
Spain | 1,375 | 576 | 799 | 9 | 532 | 435 | 399 |
Sweden | 2,010 | 930 | 1,080 | 17 | 934 | 610 | 449 |
Switzerland | 696 | 379 | 817 | 11 | 329 | 192 | 164 |
Total | 18,742 | 8,332 | 10,910 | 298 | 8,685 | 5,540 | 4,219 |
age groups are based on birth year and interview year Notes: Currently there is not yet data on the second wave in Israel. As the Czech Republic and Poland entered in wave 2, these countries do not have a longitudinal sample after wave 2. Details on the retention rates will follow soon. | |||||||
Table 5: Breakdown of all wave 1 and/or wave 2 and wave 3 samples (release 2.5.0/release 1) by country, sex and age.
Country | Total | Male | Female | Under 50 | 50 to 64 | 65 to 74 | 75+ |
Austria | 791 | 320 | 471 | 7 | 279 | 303 | 202 |
Belgium | 2,770 | 1,239 | 1,531 | 39 | 1,242 | 745 | 743 |
Czech Republic | 1,789 | 743 | 1,046 | 17 | 881 | 540 | 351 |
Denmark | 2,083 | 927 | 1,156 | 38 | 1,054 | 548 | 443 |
France | 2,375 | 1,029 | 1,345 | 33 | 1,094 | 622 | 626 |
Germany | 1,804 | 839 | 965 | 18 | 772 | 666 | 348 |
Greece Italy | 2,881 2,426 | 1,243 1,093 | 1,638 1,333 | 79 23 | 1,379 997 | 770 860 | 653 546 |
Netherlands | 2,115 | 958 | 1,157 | 17 | 1,039 | 646 | 413 |
Poland | 1,699 | 730 | 969 | 11 | 935 | 429 | 324 |
Spain | 1,894 | 819 | 1,075 | 25 | 743 | 562 | 564 |
Sweden | 1,827 | 819 | 1,008 | 6 | 697 | 662 | 462 |
Switzerland | 1,224 | 528 | 696 | 22 | 578 | 340 | 284 |
Total | 25,678 | 11,287 | 14,390 | 335 | 11,690 | 7,693 | 5,959 |
age groups are based on birth year and interview year
* Weighted average (see Börsch-Supan & Jürges, 2005, for methodological details)
