The first wave of the INSEE survey on handicaps, disabilities, and dependency (hereafter HDD) was carried out in late 1998. It covered a sample of about 15,000 people living in institutions even temporarily, as is the case with many people treated for mental illness. The institutions included homes for the elderly, homes for young and adult persons with disabilities, and psychiatric institutions. The same persons will be surveyed again in late 2000. In addition, between 300,000 and 400,000 people living in private dwellings filled out a brief questionnaire on "daily life and health" in the March 1999 population census. Following this filtering operation, 20,000 respondents will be visited by an INSEE interviewer, once in late 1999 and again in late 2001. Statistical processing has already begun and-given the wealth and detail of data collected-will probably continue well into the new decade.