Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (2004-2007)

Firstly, thanks to Martijn de Haas for telling me about this survey.

You can download from the site a thumping great 180 pages of report that from first glances looks interesting. Another one for the pile: “must read”.

It appeared that you can get access to the data behind the report findings. Methinks that is something that could be useful, especially since being a EU taxpayer I have directly contributed to the funding of the research.

After a tortureous process of downloading a form and then having to fax or post (yes you are reading correctly) back to Share I get an e-mail telling me that I can’t have access.

Would you believe it - the data is only available to academics. Since another part of my life is as an academic I asked again and was told that this would be OK but: “Let me stress again that the data may only be used for scientific purposes and not for commercial reasons.”

What world do these people live in? Dick Stroud

1 comment:

Martijn de Haas said...

Good that you did get the data as I am not getting them either. One of the survey professors in Holland stated in the newspapers that the government should take pre-emptive medical measures to keep people healthy while ageing. One of the conclusions is that physically and mentally fit people retire at a later age. He doesn't think it is too late as the 'greying' of Holland will peak in 2038. This option seems more attractive than the government's plans to up the age of retirement.