Editing Retirement (section)

==Data sets==
Recent advances in data collection have vastly improved the ability to understand important relationships between retirement and factors such as health, wealth, employment characteristics and family dynamics, among others. The most prominent study for examining retirement behavior in the United States is the ongoing [[Health and Retirement Study]] (HRS), first fielded in 1992. The HRS is a nationally representative longitudinal survey of adults in the U.S. ages 51+, conducted every two years, and contains a wealth of information on such topics as labor force participation (e.g., current employment, job history, retirement plans, industry/occupation, pensions, disability), health (e.g., health status and history, health and [[life insurance]], cognition), financial variables (e.g., assets and income, housing, net worth, wills, consumption and savings), family characteristics (e.g., family structure, transfers, parent/child/grandchild/sibling information) and a host of other topics (e.g., expectations, expenses, internet use, risk taking, psychosocial, time use).<ref>{{cite journal
  | last1 = Juster  | first1 = F. Thomas
  | last2 = Suzman  | first2 = Richard
  | title = An Overview of the Health and Retirement Study
  | journal = The Journal of Human Resources
  | volume = 30
  | issue = Special Issue on the Health and Retirement Study: Data Quality and Early Results
  | pages = S7–S56
  | year = 1995
  | doi = 10.2307/146277
  | jstor = 146277 }}</ref>

2002 and 2004 saw the introductions of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), which includes respondents from 14 continental European countries plus Israel. These surveys were closely modeled after the HRS in the sample frame, design and content. A number of other countries (e.g., Japan, South Korea) also now field HRS-like surveys, and others (e.g., China, India) are currently fielding pilot studies. These data sets have expanded the ability of researchers to examine questions about retirement behavior by adding a cross-national perspective.

{| class="wikitable"
! Study
! First wave
! Eligibility age
! Representative year/last wave
! Sample size: households
! Sample size: individuals
|-
| ||||||||||
|-
| [http://hrsonline.isr.umich.edu/ Health and Retirement Study (HRS)]||1992||51+||2006||12,288||18,469
|-
| [http://www.mhas.pop.upenn.edu/english/home.htm Mexican Health and Aging Study (MHAS)]||2001||50+||2003||8,614||13,497
|-
| [http://www.ifs.org.uk/elsa/ English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA)]||2002||50+||2006||6,484||9,718
|-
| [http://www.share-project.org/ Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE)]||2004||50+||2006||22,255||32,442
|-
| [https://web.archive.org/web/20140416182301/http://survey.keis.or.kr/ENCOMAM0000N.do Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (KLoSA)]||2006||45+||2006||6,171||10,254
|-
| Japanese Health and Retirement Study (JHRS)||2007||45–75||2007||||Est. 10,000
|-
| [https://www.who.int/healthinfo/systems/sage/en/index.html WHO Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health (SAGE)]||2007||50+/18–49||2007||Est. 5,000/1,000 ||
|-
| [https://web.archive.org/web/20100915044000/http://charls.ccer.edu.cn/charls/ Chinese Health and Retirement Study (CHARLS)]||pilot 2008||45+||2008||Est. 1,500||Est. 2,700
|-
| Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI)||pilot 2009||45+||2009||||Est. 2,000
|-
|
|}
Notes: MHAS discontinued in 2003; ELSA numbers exclude institutionalized (nursing homes). Source: Borsch-Supan et al., eds. (November 2008). Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (2004–2007): Starting the Longitudinal Dimension.