The SHARE International Seminar Series (SISS) presents:

Studies of healthy life expectancy and social inequality using SHARE linked to registry data

Abstract

The Danish state pension is among the highest in the world and is increasing in line with the expected increase in life expectancy. SHARE data has been used to quantify social inequality in disability-free life expectancy to illustrate the consequences of the governments‘ ongoing decisions to raise the retirement age, which does not adjust for the social inequality in life expectancy and healthy life expectancy, an inequality that has been increasing for decades.

By using a central personal identification number for all Danes REGLINK-SHAREDK is a direct linkage of SHARE survey data with nationwide register data from Statistics Denmark and the Danish Health Data Authority . REGLINK-SHAREDK provides current, pre- and post-survey information about the respondents and their families (education, employment, income, hospitalizations and other contacts with healthcare, deaths, etc.) and provides more reliable information on education, occupation and income than self-reported information.

This presentation shows results for life expectancy and disability-free life expectancy in Denmark divided by social position defined by register data on educational, occupational and income.

Biography

Henrik Brønnum-Hansen is emeritus associate professor at Section of Social Medicine, University of Copenhagen. He has studied the epidemiology of various diseases based on nationwide registers. He has also exploited the opportunities in Denmark to link national registries with survey data (including SHARE) for research projects in public health. His main interests are within the areas of mortality, health expectancy, health impact assessment, and social inequality.