ABSTRACT
This paper highlights the specific aspects of the eighth wave of SHARE in which face-to-face interviewing has been suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, and a methodological turn has been made, i.e. face-to-face interviews have been replaced with a short CATI (telephone) survey called "SHARE Corona". From the database of insured persons of the Croatian Health Insurance Fund (HZZO), 4,990 persons born in 1963 and earlier were randomly selected. In all countries that had refresher samples, the response rate was 51.3% at the household level and 46.8% at the individual level. The seventh SHARE wave, called SHARELIFE, was mainly retrospective, accomplishing a full EU coverage. As a part of the seventh wave, a relatively small refresher sample was selected in Croatia i.e. 346 interviews were conducted in 234 households. The minimum satisfactory response rate of 30% was achieved at the household level. In Croatia, the retention rate of respondents in the seventh wave was 84.6%, which was the highest retention rate of respondents between waves six and seven. In Slovenia, it was 82.9%, in Greece 82.8%, in Estonia 82.2%, in Belgium 70.4%, in France 64.9%, and in Italy 62%. The sampling procedure for the refresher sample in wave eight in Croatia followed the standard phases of two-stage sampling. Primary sampling units were polling stations selected based on a probability proportional to the number of voters aged 50+ at each polling station. The sample was stratified by counties and by settlement size. In the second phase, the gross sample of individuals aged 50 or older was selected randomly. The SHARE study today faces a number of challenges, the most prominent ones being the retention of European coverage due to lack of funding and the future method of surveying in the light of COVID-19. In Croatia, joining the SHARE study was marked by significant challenges. Firstly, SHARE is the first longitudinal study on demographic ageing conducted in our country. Secondly, the SHARE survey requires ample financial resources, so the size of the Croatian sample had to be adjusted accordingly and to meet high scientific standards set by the SHARE study. The third significant challenge that the SHARE research team faced were barriers to accessing the sampling framework. Substantial efforts were undertaken to demonstrate that the SHARE study adheres to all ethical standards and regulations related to the protection of the personal data of respondents. Another issue was the limited number of survey agencies in Croatia that can conduct demanding surveys of this type.
ABSTRACT
The main goal of this paper is to assess the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality in Croatia. We estimate two effects of the pandemic on mortality: (1) excess mortality during 2020 and (2) the age- and cause-specific components of life expectancy decline in 2020. We calculate excess mortality in 2020 as the difference between the registered number of deaths in 2020 and the expected number of deaths from a Poisson regression model based on weekly death counts and population exposures by age and sex from 2016 to 2019. Using decomposition techniques, we estimate age- and cause-specific components (distinguishing COVID-19-related deaths from deaths from other causes) of life expectancy decline in 2020. Our results show that excess mortality in 2020 almost entirely results from the second, autumn-winter wave of the epidemic in Croatia. Expectedly, we find the highest excess in deaths in older age groups. In Croatia, life expectancy in 2020 fell by almost eight months for men and about seven months for women. This decline is mostly attributable to COVID-19-related mortality in older ages, especially among men. © The Authors.