When governments locked down during COVID-19, they stopped the virus — but also caused a lot of collateral damage nobody planned for. People skipped doctor visits, lost jobs, became isolated, and struggled with housing. This project used a massive survey covering all EU countries to measure exactly how bad that collateral damage was, especially for people over 50. The goal was to give governments hard numbers so next time there's a pandemic, the cure doesn't end up worse than the disease.
Companies in insurance, healthcare, and senior services are flying blind when planning for the next pandemic. They saw what COVID-19 lockdowns did to their customers and operations, but lack structured, cross-country evidence on exactly how epidemic control measures ripple through health, jobs, housing, and social isolation — especially for the vulnerable 50+ demographic that drives much of their revenue.
The project delivered 42 outputs including cross-national survey analyses covering healthcare inequalities, labor market impacts, housing disruptions, social isolation, and income effects of COVID-19 lockdowns. Concrete tools include a collection of documented STATA statistical routines, context data in the SPLASH database, and SEIR epidemiological models linked to social pattern data.
If you are a health insurer trying to price pandemic-related risks — this project produced cross-national data across 12 countries showing how lockdowns changed healthcare access, health behaviors, and income for the 50+ population. That data can sharpen your actuarial models for pandemic scenarios and help you forecast claims surges after future public health emergencies.
If you are a senior housing provider struggling to plan capacity after pandemic disruptions — this project analyzed housing and living arrangement choices between independence, co-residence, and institutionalization across all EU member states. The findings on how lockdowns pushed older adults between these options can inform your demand forecasting and service design for future crisis periods.
If you are a healthcare consultancy building pandemic readiness plans for public or private clients — this project delivered refined analyses of healthcare inequalities before, during, and after COVID-19 across 12 countries, plus SEIR epidemiological models linked to social patterns. These are ready-made evidence packages you can license or reference in preparedness strategies.
SHARE is a public research infrastructure, so the underlying survey data is typically available to registered researchers at no cost. However, the refined analyses, STATA routines, and SEIR models produced by this project may require collaboration agreements with the Max Planck Society. Commercial licensing terms are not publicly specified.
The project consortium covers 12 countries (CZ, DE, DK, EL, ES, FR, HR, IL, IT, NL, PL, SE) and the objective states coverage of all EU member states through the SHARE infrastructure. Extending to non-EU markets would require new data collection partnerships.
The project is a Research and Innovation Action funded by the EU, which typically means results are open access. The STATA statistical routines and SPLASH database context data are documented deliverables. Specific licensing for commercial use would need to be negotiated with the coordinator.
The project ran from November 2020 to June 2024, covering multiple survey rounds during and after the pandemic. The deliverables include analyses from at least two rounds of the SHARE Corona Survey (SCS), making this one of the most comprehensive longitudinal pandemic-impact datasets available for the 50+ population.
The project produced documented STATA routines and context data in the SPLASH database, which are standard research data formats. Integration into commercial business intelligence or actuarial platforms would require data engineering work, but the structured format of the deliverables makes this feasible.
The project explicitly targeted policy recommendations for the European Commission and national ministries. For companies in regulated industries like insurance or healthcare, these cross-national findings on healthcare inequalities and lockdown effects provide evidence that can support regulatory compliance arguments and impact assessments.
This is a purely academic consortium: 10 universities and 7 research organizations across 12 countries, with zero industrial partners. The coordinator is the Max Planck Society, one of Europe's most prestigious research institutions. While the 17-partner, 12-country spread gives the data exceptional geographic coverage, the complete absence of industry involvement means the findings were designed for policymakers, not businesses. Any company wanting to use these results commercially would need to build the bridge themselves — there is no built-in pathway from research output to business product.
The coordinator is Max Planck Society in Germany. SciTransfer can help locate the right contact person for commercial inquiries.
Want to explore how SHARE-COVID19 pandemic impact data could strengthen your risk models or preparedness planning? SciTransfer can connect you with the research team and help translate their findings into your business context.
