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Health and Retirement Study - Project Overview

America's demographic profile is undergoing a dramatic change. Lengthening life spans combined with the aging of the population bulge - those born during the "baby boom" years of 1946 to 1965- is transforming us from a youthful society to a middle-aged and elderly society. The demands of the new age of America is imposing major new challenges to the nation's health and economic institutions.

Foreseeing this aging of America, in 1992 the Survey Research Center (SRC) launched the largest data collection effort in its history, the inaugural wave of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). It was and is viewed as one of the most valuable and innovative studies ever undertaken to better understand how people fare as they age.

The HRS was designed to provide academic researchers, policy analysts, and program managers with reliable, current data on the economic and physical well-being of men and women 50 years of age and older in America. In addition, it was intended to furnish insight into how, over time, health and wealth interact with work, retirement, and family responsibilities to affect the decisions that these people make.

Approximately 70,000 households in the U.S. were selected for possible inclusion in the first wave of data collection in 1992. Initially, it was decided the HRS would focus on people who were close to retirement. The eligible respondents therefore were chosen from a single birth cohort (or group of people born within the same span of years), in this case, people born between 1931 and 1941 and their spouses or partners.

The HRS sample now consists of multiple birth cohorts with participants who range from 50 to over 100 years old. In order to ensure the sample remains representative of the 50+ population, it is necessary to supplement with an additional, younger birth cohort. Selected members of the Mid-Generation X cohort born between the years 1972 and 1977 will be invited to join the HRS this wave and add their stories to those of thousands of others.