DataSet

National Institute on Aging (NIA)

IDBA

The International Data Base on Aging (IDBA) is a subset of a larger International Data Base (IDB) that is maintained and updated by the IPC. The IDB contains the IPC's population projections for all countries of the world, as well as information for as many as 51 demographic and socioeconomic variables for each country. The initial IDB design included virtually no statistics for elderly age groups; as was common until recent years, the elderly typically were aggregated into a broad open-ended age group (e.g., 60 or 65 years old and over). The primary goal of the IDBA is to expand the age coverage of the IDB by assembling census, survey, administrative, and population-projection data for 5-year age groups up to the oldest available grouping. The detailed IDBA statistics include not only numbers of people in each age cohort, but also their marital statuses, labor force participation and occupation, mortality rates, and related characteristics. For certain industrialized countries, income comparisons of the aged and non-aged, and among the aged, are being included, as information from ongoing studies becomes available. Another goal of the IDBA is to broaden the temporal coverage of statistics on the elderly; data for 1950 to the present are included, with population projections running through the year 2050. Information about cohorts over time allows researchers to go beyond mere cross-sectional comparisons to analyses of the same age cohorts in different countries. Data base contents have been reviewed for internal consistency and international comparability. Source documentation accompanies all information, and additional notation of conceptual definitions and/or data irregularities is provided where necessary. The initial geographic coverage of 31 countries was expanded to 42 in 1989, to 85 in 1994, and to 101 countries in 1996, and currently covers all 227 countries of the world.

In response to the need for reliable and internationally comparable statistics on population aging, the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and the International Programs Center (IPC), U.S. Census Bureau, have created a computerized data base which provides detailed demographic and socioeconomic information about the aged in the United States and other countries, both industrialized and developing. The intent of this effort is twofold: to promote a better understanding of the aging process in disparate societies, and to afford researchers and policymakers in the U.S. a better opportunity to gain insights and formulate responses to demands generated by an aging American population.

Aging in the Americas into the XXI Century. 1998. A wallchart which highlights statistics and comparative indicators for the Western Hemisphere. Global Aging into the 21st Century. 1996. A wallchart which highlights statistics and comparative indicators for 100 countries. Older Workers, Retirement and Pensions. A Comparative International Chartbook. 1995. U.S. Bureau of the Census, IPC95/2. Aging Trends. A series of 4-page publications on dimensions of population aging in individual countries (Issued periodically 1989-1997). Aging in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union. 1993. U.S.Census Bureau, P95/93-1. An Aging World II. 1993. U.S. Census Bureau, P95/92-3. Population and Health Transitions. 1992. U.S. Census Bureau, P95/92-2. Aging in the Third World. 1988. U.S. Census Bureau, P95/79. An Aging World. 1987. U.S. Census Bureau, P-95/78. In addition to these formal publications, over 50 other IDBA-based products (book chapters, staff papers, journal articles, etc.) were generated during the period 1985-1999. A list may be obtained from the address below.

U.S. Census Bureau

Data base contents initially were available on computer tape, and were archived and distributed by ICPSR. In order to make IDBA information more accessible to users; the IPC created a microcomputer floppy-diskette version of the database, consisting of a menu-driven program and individual-country data diskettes. The program is designed to permit access to data files without requiring the user to employ a specific software package. In 1995, the entire International Data Base was made available on the Internet. The IDB can be accessed electronically at http://www.census.gov/ftp/pub/ipc/www/idbnew.html

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