Europe has been witnessing an ageing population for several decades, driving up the demand for health services. EU Member States therefore need to strategically plan their healthcare workforce, which is complex as it involves interconnected factors such as the demographic characteristics and health status of the population, the age profile of the health professionals' and decisions on public health spending. To produce reliable projections, the European Commission uses the Supply ANd DEMand model for the healthcare workforce (SANDEM). SHARE is a key data source for this model. Particularly, SHARE data is key to understanding how healthcare needs are “compressed” into fewer years before death rather than expanded across the full range of old ages.