REGLINK-SHAREDK

REGLINK-SHAREDK: Linking Danish SHARE Survey Data with data from Danish national registers

REGLINK-SHAREDK stands for the direct linkage of survey data of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) with register data from Statistics Denmark and the Danish Health Data Authority.

REGLINK-SHAREDK is the second successful linkage project in SHARE and relates to the Danish subsample of SHARE. The linkage in Denmark was completed in February 2017 by establishing the project as a national research infrastructure and will be consecutively updated when new waves of SHARE are released.

For the purpose of the linkage, a consortium has been established. At present, the consortium consists of University of Southern Denmark, Aarhus University, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Business School, Aalborg University and Roskilde University.

At this point in time, survey data of Danish SHARE respondents of waves 1-6 of the study is linked with health, labour market and demographic registers. For the future, it is planned to also include the Danish SHARE data of waves 7 to 10 in the REGLINK-SHAREDK database, when these are available, and at the same occasions update the register variable content.

Survey participants from whom personal data are collected were provided with information about the project in accordance with the Danish Act on Processing of Personal Data. The linkage of Danish SHARE data with administrative records of the same person is carried out via a central personal identification number.

The database provides researchers from Danish research institutions with the ability to analyse employment behaviour, health conditions, ageing processes etc. and thereby provide evidenced based solutions to many of the societal challenges, which Denmark and many other countries in Europe are facing.

It is possible for researchers employed at (or with an appointment at) a Danish research institution to get access to linked data for scientific research purposes via remote access on a secure server at Statistics Denmark. Researchers must also be registered as users of SHARE data in order to gain access. Details on access to the data can be found via the website of the Danish SHARE-DK research consortium.