RSU represents Latvia in pan-European research on health and ageing

SHARE (Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe) is a pan-European study on health, ageing and retirement. The first wave of involved 11 European countries, and it was held in 2004. Latvia along with seven new participants will join the SHARE in its next wave of data collection in 2017 thus ensuring the conduct of research in all 28 EU member states. Dean of RSU, Faculty of Rehabilitation, Associate Professor Signe Tomsone and Andrejs Ivanovs, Head of the Statistics Unit of the Faculty of Medicine will coordinate the survey in Latvia.

“Working conditions during the economically active period of life affect the well-being of the ageing population, but health in childhood to a large extent determines the extent of the need for healthcare services in middle-aged and older adults. Although there are regional differences, the relationship between different generations in Europe is still strong and mutual assistance is significant. However, the workload increases for the middle-aged population as they have to help not only their parents but also their grown-up children who for various reasons have not fully started independent life. These are some of the trends illustrated by the previous waves of the SHARE survey. Participation of Latvia in this research is essential – such longitudinal data are not available, and they can be useful both in science and policy-making in various sectors,” says Associate Professor Signe Tomsone.

Using the SHARE data, researchers can better understand how ageing affects individuals and families by integrating such scientific disciplines as demography, economics, epidemiology, medicine, biology, statistics, sociology and psychology. Since the beginning of the SHARE project more than 293 thousand interviews have been conducted with about 123 thousand individuals.