Special Issue on Comparative Ageing, Health, and Policy: Cross-national Evidence from the Global Family of Ageing Surveys

Population ageing is reshaping disease burden, health-care demand, long-term care needs, labour markets, and social protection systems worldwide. Many countries face shared challenges—rising multimorbidity, obesity and cardiometabolic risks, cognitive decline and dementia, widening social inequalities, and uneven access to prevention and chronic disease management, yet their policy responses differ markedly. Cross-country comparative evidence is essential to identify transferable lessons, explain divergence, and inform effective and equitable policy design.

This special issue of Global Health Research and Policy invites submissions that use two or more large-scale ageing studies, including the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (KLoSA), The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), the Mexican Health and Aging Study (MHAS), the Indonesia Family Life Survey (IFLS), the Japanese Study of Aging and Retirement (JSTAR), and/or the Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health (SAGE) to address comparative questions in global ageing, health, and policy. We particularly welcome work that uses harmonized measures or carefully documented cross-walk approaches to support valid comparison across settings. High-quality studies based on a single database will also be considered, provided they offer clear global health relevance and policy insight.

Scope and topics of interest

We welcome empirical, methodological, and policy-oriented papers that make a clear cross-national contribution. Topics include (but are not limited to):

1) Disease burden and epidemiological transitions

• Comparative burden of NCDs and multimorbidity across high-, middle-, and low-income settings
• Health expectancy, functional limitations, and compression/expansion of morbidity
• Global patterns of frailty and functional decline

2) Health systems, access, and care cascades

• Diagnosis, treatment, and control cascades for chronic diseases across countries
• Primary care performance, continuity, quality of care, and unmet needs in older adults
• Medication use, concurrent use of multiple medications, and financial protection

3) Long-term care, caregiving, and related policies

• Formal/informal care arrangements, caregiver burden, and long-term care policy design
• Pension, retirement, and social security reforms and their health impacts
• End-of-life care utilisation and outcomes

4) Social determinants and ageing environments

• Housing, living arrangements, and intergenerational support
• Urbanisation and ageing: infrastructure, walkability, and community health
• Digital divide and access to health information in later life

5) Labour, retirement, and economic security

• Retirement policies and health outcomes over time after retirement
• Informal employment, labour participation, and socioeconomic disparities in older adult health
• Economic insecurity and mental health among older populations

6) Global shocks and policy resilience

• Inflation, economic crisis, and health vulnerability in ageing societies
• Climate-related health risks in older populations
• System resilience and preparedness for demographic transition

Data requirement

Submissions are strongly encouraged to use two or more of the following datasets: CHARLS; HRS; ELSA; SHARE; KLoSA; TILDA; MHAS; IFLS; JSTAR; and/or SAGE; which is designed to support cross-national research using harmonized variables and concordance tools. High-quality single-dataset studies may be considered if they provide clear global health relevance and transferable policy insights.

Manuscript types

We welcome: Original research; methodological papers; systematic reviews/meta-analyses; policy analyses; brief reports; and commentaries that make a clear cross-national contribution.

Guest editors

Research Associate Prof. Chen Chen, Department of Global Health, School of Public Health, Wuhan University, China
E-mail: chenchen835@whu.edu.cn

Professor Xinxin Chen, Executive director of the CHARLS, Dong Fureng Institute of Economic and Social Development, Wuhan University

E-mail: chenxx@whu.edu.cn

Manuscript submission information

Submission deadline: This is a long-term call.

Manuscripts should be submitted using the journal's online submission system. Global Health Research and Policy has transitioned to a new publishing arrangement after 31 December 2025, and authors may consult the journal pages for updated submission guidance or contact the editorial office if needed.

During submission, please select the special issue (or indicate in the cover letter) that your manuscript is intended for this special issue on cross-national ageing surveys.