Old Age in Germany (D80+)

Due to demographic change, the population group of the oldest old (80 years and older) is growing, but so far there have been no representative studies on their living situation and quality of life in Germany as a whole. The D80+ study, a nationwide representative survey of the population aged 80 and over, fills this gap. It is designed to be interdisciplinary and specifically targets people who are no longer able to provide information, with questions being answered by proxy interviews conducted by their close associates. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the study's design had to be changed from planned face-to-face interviews to a combination of written and telephone interviews. More than 10,000 people participated in the survey. Their responses are available to external researchers as a Scientific Use File through the FDZ of the DZA.

The study was conducted by the University of Cologne and ceres (cologne center for ethics, rights, economics, and social sciences of health) in cooperation with the German Center for Ageing (DZA).