diff --git a/MathLib/LinAlg/Dense/DenseVector.h b/MathLib/LinAlg/Dense/DenseVector.h
index e924b15564b0a9323188f0545d90b317e3c8a912..e630ddf98073b316bbc2b623e8543f19325b461b 100644
--- a/MathLib/LinAlg/Dense/DenseVector.h
+++ b/MathLib/LinAlg/Dense/DenseVector.h
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ class DenseVector : public std::valarray<T>
 {
 public:
 	typedef T FP_T;
+	using IndexType = std::size_t;  // The type of valarray indices.
 
 public:
 	using std::valarray<T>::operator=;
diff --git a/MathLib/LinAlg/Dense/GlobalDenseMatrix.h b/MathLib/LinAlg/Dense/GlobalDenseMatrix.h
index 46f13c7e50d30786d41315d848ead9b2c88e4d94..60e97121c7dee47eea71fb5ba7950f1b70dafc74 100644
--- a/MathLib/LinAlg/Dense/GlobalDenseMatrix.h
+++ b/MathLib/LinAlg/Dense/GlobalDenseMatrix.h
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ class GlobalDenseMatrix: public DenseMatrix<FP_TYPE, IDX_TYPE>
 {
 public:
 	typedef FP_TYPE FP_T;
+	using IndexType = IDX_TYPE;
 
 public:
 	/// Dense square matrix constructor.
diff --git a/MathLib/LinAlg/Eigen/EigenMatrix.h b/MathLib/LinAlg/Eigen/EigenMatrix.h
index ad5758afc24ba7d038225ba9203c69b3510d89fa..2aaa665f0a1a0dcfdb99f0e0132cb258a59f3790 100644
--- a/MathLib/LinAlg/Eigen/EigenMatrix.h
+++ b/MathLib/LinAlg/Eigen/EigenMatrix.h
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ class EigenMatrix final
 {
 public:
     using RawMatrixType = Eigen::SparseMatrix<double, Eigen::RowMajor>;
+    using IndexType = RawMatrixType::Index;
 
     /**
      * constructor
diff --git a/MathLib/LinAlg/Eigen/EigenVector.h b/MathLib/LinAlg/Eigen/EigenVector.h
index 0c27be964077d94202afead0c832cbe0d472bfac..5f34625010b34a458d78808d957ab816e88adf69 100644
--- a/MathLib/LinAlg/Eigen/EigenVector.h
+++ b/MathLib/LinAlg/Eigen/EigenVector.h
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 #endif
 
 #include <Eigen/Eigen>
+#include <Eigen/Sparse>
 
 namespace MathLib
 {
@@ -27,6 +28,11 @@ class EigenVector final
 public:
     using RawVectorType = Eigen::VectorXd;
 
+    // The Index type of the Eigen::VectorXd class differs from the
+    // Eigen::SparseMatrix<double> index type. Maybe an Eigen::SparseVector is a
+    // more appropriate RawVectorType for the global vectors.
+    using IndexType = Eigen::SparseMatrix<double>::Index;
+
     /// Constructor for initialization of the number of rows
     /// @param length number of rows
     explicit EigenVector(std::size_t length) : _vec(length) {}
diff --git a/MathLib/LinAlg/Lis/LisMatrix.h b/MathLib/LinAlg/Lis/LisMatrix.h
index 4d9d725c6943a30a2e6768880e88a576e82fa4a9..1166d2cfff26c130d260775b173bb4d84c5206d0 100644
--- a/MathLib/LinAlg/Lis/LisMatrix.h
+++ b/MathLib/LinAlg/Lis/LisMatrix.h
@@ -44,6 +44,8 @@ struct SetMatrixSparsity<LisMatrix, SPARSITY_PATTERN>;
  */
 class LisMatrix
 {
+public:
+    using IndexType = LIS_INT;
 public:
     /**
      * constructor
diff --git a/MathLib/LinAlg/Lis/LisVector.h b/MathLib/LinAlg/Lis/LisVector.h
index 33346c6e019046368438aa9af4ff10650c796c9c..9fbbd3e0cd77d222f80c7d1f59466a0e61250b8e 100644
--- a/MathLib/LinAlg/Lis/LisVector.h
+++ b/MathLib/LinAlg/Lis/LisVector.h
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@ namespace MathLib
  */
 class LisVector
 {
+public:
+	using IndexType = LIS_INT;
 public:
 	/**
 	 * Constructor for initialization of the number of rows
diff --git a/MathLib/LinAlg/PETSc/PETScMatrix.h b/MathLib/LinAlg/PETSc/PETScMatrix.h
index 43706b873052adec1d3ed7b26dc27ff0e26c582e..4f830e865bb86f78d8d3472689a2c68010ca03e2 100644
--- a/MathLib/LinAlg/PETSc/PETScMatrix.h
+++ b/MathLib/LinAlg/PETSc/PETScMatrix.h
@@ -33,6 +33,9 @@ namespace MathLib
 */
 class PETScMatrix
 {
+    public:
+        using IndexType = PetscInt;
+
     public:
         /*!
           \brief        Constructor for a square matrix partitioning with more options
diff --git a/MathLib/LinAlg/PETSc/PETScVector.h b/MathLib/LinAlg/PETSc/PETScVector.h
index b940d0d861b8df3c7ad67c7f29f502c8dec629f4..ee7d4482829bb5304194aa2d89f53b2e59387542 100644
--- a/MathLib/LinAlg/PETSc/PETScVector.h
+++ b/MathLib/LinAlg/PETSc/PETScVector.h
@@ -34,6 +34,9 @@ namespace MathLib
 */
 class PETScVector
 {
+    public:
+        using IndexType = PetscInt;
+
     public:
 
         /*!
diff --git a/ProcessLib/NumericsConfig.h b/ProcessLib/NumericsConfig.h
index 3bc349a638077cfa004b3864ce113c1c56ff97e5..2b4fcaf86eeb23baa27c8d5beb2428d8a7013498 100644
--- a/ProcessLib/NumericsConfig.h
+++ b/ProcessLib/NumericsConfig.h
@@ -103,5 +103,18 @@ using GlobalSetupType =
 // Check the configuration
 //
 static_assert(std::is_class<GlobalSetupType>::value,
-        "GlobalSetupType was not defined.");
+              "GlobalSetupType was not defined.");
+static_assert(std::is_integral<detail::GlobalMatrixType::IndexType>::value,
+              "The index type for global matrices is not an integral type.");
+static_assert(std::is_integral<detail::GlobalVectorType::IndexType>::value,
+              "The index type for global vectors is not an integral type.");
+static_assert(std::is_same<detail::GlobalMatrixType::IndexType,
+                           detail::GlobalVectorType::IndexType>::value,
+              "The global matrix and vector index types do not match.");
+// Both types are integral types and equal, define a single GlobalIndexType.
+
+/// A type used for indexing of global vectors and matrices. It is equal to the
+/// GlobalMatrixType::IndexType and the GlobalVectorType::IndexType.
+using GlobalIndexType = detail::GlobalMatrixType::IndexType;
+
 #endif  // APPLICATIONS_NUMERICSCONFIG_H_