Data Access

Release of the SHARE data

The SHARE data are distributed by SHARE-ERIC (Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe – European Research Infrastructure Consortium) to registered users through the SHARE Research Data Center.

The SHARE Research Data Center (FDZ-SHARE) complies with the Criteria of the German Council for Social and Economic Data (PDF) (Rat für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsdaten, RatSWD) for providing access to microdata. The access provided by SHARE-ERIC meets the requirements of the European Charter for Access to Research Infrastructures (PDF) ("Wide Access" mode).

Access to the data collected and generated in the SHARE projects is provided free of charge for scientific use globally, subject to European Union and national data protection laws as well as the publicly available Conditions of Use.

Access services are rendered through two public data archives in cooperation with the Central SHARE Coordination Team: the CentERdata Archive located at Tilburg University in the Netherlands and the Data Archive for the Social Sciences, a public data archive run by GESIS Leibniz-Institute for Social Sciences in Cologne.

How to access the SHARE data after completion of the registration?

Upon acceptance of the credentials (normally within a few working days), access to the SHARE data will be granted most easily via the SHARE Research Data Center website by entering a personal user ID and a password.

Here, the SHARE data can be downloaded by the individual SHARE user. 

Your personal data access information will be sent to you via email. Please note: this email includes a link to change your password which expires after 72 hours.

If you forgot your password and would like to reset it or would like to change your password for security reasons, please also go to the SHARE Research Data Center website and follow the respective instructions.

Available data sets

An overview of the up-to-date data sets of the different SHARE waves as well as additional data sets that are available via the SHARE Research Data Center can be found here: SHARE Data Releases. Besides, an administrative records data set that can easily be linked to the German SHARE data is provided by the Research Data Center of the German Pension Fund (FDZ-RV) via the website of the FDZ-RV.

How are users informed about data updates and new releases?

Registered users of the data are regularly informed about updates of data and new releases via email. Regarding the subsequent use of the data, users are supported by a public website providing various information and by a combination of central and national support points which answer questions and respond to user requests. If you have any questions regarding the use of the data please consult the information provided on our website or contact the SHARE user support.

Important note and disclaimer

Please note that this SHARE website is the sole source for official information on the project and its data. You may, however, find information on the study elsewhere on the internet from non-authorised third parties (ranging from metadata on the project and data documentation to aggregated research results to programme code and so-called harmonisation files). If referring to or using such information, please be aware that it might be outdated or incorrect and that we cannot assume any responsibility and liability. The official SHARE Research Data Center website is the sole online access point to the SHARE data. Here SHARE users can download the SHARE data after successful registration. If you, however, should happen to find copies of the actual SHARE data (or parts thereof) elsewhere on the internet, please inform us immediately about this breach of the SHARE Conditions of Use.