SHARE-ERIC

In March 2011, the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) became the first European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC). This gives it legal personality and capacity in all EU Member States and other partner countries of the ERIC as well as some of the tax exemptions (e.g. VAT) enjoyed by real  international organisations. It also provides a firm governance structure and permits lean procurement procedures for subcontracts, two important advantages for running a large-scale survey such as SHARE.

SHARE-ERIC was first hosted by the Netherlands and then by MEA (Munich Center for the Economics of Aging) in Munich, Germany. Recently the seat was transferred to Berlin, Germany, to the SHARE BERLIN Institute, the central coordination hub of SHARE. The project aims to help researchers understand the impact of population ageing on European societies and thus to help policy makers make decisions on health, social and economic policy. Managing Director of SHARE-ERIC is Prof. Dr. David Richter (Berlin).

Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany and the Netherlands are the founding members of SHARE-ERIC, with Switzerland having an observer status. Italy joined in June 2011, followed by Greece, Israel, Slovenia and Sweden in 2013, Poland in 2014, France in 2015, Hungary in 2017, Croatia and Cyprus in 2018, Bulgaria in 2019, and Lithuania in 2024.