This project strengthens the cooperation with a global network of other ageing surveys tackling the same issues relevant for individual and population ageing such as health, disability, retirement, active ageing, family and social support. The global network of ageing surveys (called "sister studies" altogether) consists of "parent surveys" and "daughter surveys" with respect to SHARE, the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, a multidisciplinary and cross-national panel database of micro data on health, socio-economic status and social and family networks, coordinated at MPISOC. The "parent surveys" have been started earlier than SHARE and have influenced the design of SHARE, namely the US Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), while SHARE has strongly influenced the design of the Japanese Study on Aging and Retirement (JSTAR) and other "daughter surveys". The project is funded by a grant from the US National Institute on Aging.