SOEP-Core v30beta (data 1984-2013)

The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) study is a wide-ranging representative longitudinal study of private households, located at the German Institute for Economic Research, DIW Berlin. Every year, there were nearly 11,000 households, and more than 20,000 persons sampled by the fieldwork organization TNS Infratest Sozialforschung. The data provide information on all household members, consisting of Germans living in the Old and New German States, foreigners, and recent immigrants to Germany. The Panel was started in 1984. Some of the many topics include household composition, occupational biographies, employment, earnings, health and satisfaction indicators. As early as June 1990—even before the Economic, Social and Monetary Union—SOEP expanded to include the states of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), thus seizing the rare opportunity to observe the transformation of an entire society. An immigrant sample was added as well to account for the changes that took place in German society in 1994/95. Further new samples were added in 1998, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013. The survey is constantly being adapted and developed in response to current social developments. The international version contains 95% of all cases surveyed.

Dataset Information

Titel: German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), data of the years 1984-2013

DOI: 10.5684/soep.v30beta
Collection period: 1984-2013
Publication date: Dec. 12, 2014
Principal investigators: Jürgen Schupp, Martin Kroh, Jan Goebel, Carsten Schröder, Elisabeth Bügelmayer, Marco Giesselmann, Markus Grabka, Peter Krause, Simon Kühne, Elisabeth Liebau, David Richter, Rainer Siegers, Paul Schmelzer, Christian Schmitt, Daniel Schnitzlein, Ingrid Tucci, Knut Wenzig

Data collector: TNS Infratest Sozialforschung GmbH.

Population: Persons living in private households in Germany.

Selection method: All samples of SOEP are multi-stage random samples which are regionally clustered. The respondents (households) are selected by random-walk.

Collection mode: The interview methodology of the SOEP is based on a set of pre-tested questionnaires for households and individuals. Principally an interviewer tries to obtain face-to-face interviews with all members of a given survey household aged 16 years and over. Additionally one person (head of household) is asked to answer a household related questionnaire covering information on housing, housing costs, and different sources of income. This covers also some questions on children in the household up to 16 years of age, mainly concerning attendance at institutions (kindergarten, elementary school, etc.).

 Data set information:

 Number of units 87,095
 Number of variables 52,997 in 389 data sets
 Data format STATA, SPSS, SAS, CSV
 MD5 fingerprints of the data sets

Stata English+German | TXT, 17.05 KB
Stata German | TXT, 17.05 KB
Stata German (50% version) | TXT, 17 KB
Stata English | TXT, 17.05 KB
Stata English (50% version) | TXT, 17 KB
SPSS German | TXT, 17.05 KB
SPSS German (50% version) | TXT, 17 KB
SPSS English | TXT, 17.05 KB
SPSS English (50% version) | TXT, 17 KB
SAS German | TXT, 18.95 KB
SAS German (50% version) | TXT, 18.9 KB
SAS English | TXT, 18.95 KB
SAS English (50% version) | TXT, 18.9 KB
GGKBOU German | TXT, 140 Byte
GGKBOU English | TXT, 140 Byte
CSV | TXT, 17.05 KB

 

Publications:

  • Gert G. Wagner, Joachim R. Frick, and Jürgen Schupp (2007) The German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) - Scope, Evolution and Enhancements, Schmollers Jahrbuch (Journal of Applied Social Science Studies) 127 (1), 139-169 (download).
  • Gert G. Wagner, Jan Göbel, Peter Krause, Rainer Pischner, and Ingo Sieber (2008) Das Sozio-oekonomische Panel (SOEP): Multidisziplinäres Haushaltspanel und Kohortenstudie für Deutschland - Eine Einführung (für neue Datennutzer) mit einem Ausblick (für erfahrene Anwender), AStA Wirtschafts- und Sozialstatistisches Archiv 2 (4), 301-328 (download).
  • Schupp, Jürgen (2009): 25 Jahre Sozio-oekonomisches Panel - Ein Infrastrukturprojekt der empirischen Sozial- und Wirtschaftsforschung in Deutschland, Zeitschrift für Soziologie 38 (5), pp. 350-357.

Publications using this file should refer to the above DOI infoFind an explanation on the usage of DOI here.and cite following references

  • Goebel, Jan, Markus M. Grabka, Stefan Liebig, Martin Kroh, David Richter, Carsten Schröder, and Jürgen Schupp. 2019. The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie und Statistik (Journal of Economics and Statistics) 239 (2), 345-360. (https://doi.org/10.1515/jbnst-2018-0022)

If you do not exclude the cases of the migration samples in your analysis, then please also cite the following reference:

  • Herbert Brücker, Martin Kroh, Simone Bartsch, Jan Goebel, Simon Kühne, Elisabeth Liebau, Parvati Trübswetter, Ingrid Tucci & Jürgen Schupp. 2014. The new IAB-SOEP Migration Sample: an introduction into the methodology and the contents. SOEP Survey Paper 216 (PDF, 444.25 KB), Series C. Berlin, Nürnberg: DIW Berlin.

If you do not exclude the cases of the refugee samples in your analysis, please also cite: 

  • Herbert Brücker, Yuliya Kosyakova, Nina Rother, Sabine Zinn, Elisabeth Liebau, Wenke Gider, Silvia Schwanhäuser, & Manuel Siegert. 2025. Exploring Integration and Migration Dynamics: The Research Potentials of a Large-Scale Longitudinal Household Study of Refugees in Germany. European Sociological Review. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcaf032.

If you use data from the SOEP-LEE2 surveys, please also cite:

  • Wenzel Matiaske, Torben Dall Schmidt, Christoph Halbmeier, Martina Maas, Doris Holtmann, Carsten Schröder, Tamara Böhm, Stefan Liebig, and Alexander S. Kritikos. 2023. SOEP-LEE2 : Linking Surveys on Employees to Employers in Germany. Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie und Statistik Data Observer, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1515/jbnst-2023-0031.

If you would like to refer more specifically, please also cite:

  • Schröder, Carsten, Johannes König, Alexandra Fedorets, Jan Goebel, Markus M. Grabka, Holger Lüthen, Maria Metzing, Felicitas Schikora, and Stefan Liebig. 2020. The economic research potentials of the German Socio-Economic Panel study. German Economic Review 21 (3), 335-371. (https://doi.org/10.1515/ger-2020-0033)
  • Giesselmann, Marco, Sandra Bohmann, Jan Goebel, Peter Krause, Elisabeth Liebau, David Richter, Diana Schacht, Carsten Schröder, Jürgen Schupp, and Stefan Liebig. 2019. The Individual in Context(s): Research Potentials of the Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) in Sociology. European Sociological Review 35 (5), 738-755. (https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcz029)
  • Jacobsen, Jannes, Magdalena Krieger, Felicitas Schikora, and Jürgen Schupp. 2021. Growing Potentials for Migration Research using the German Socio-Economic Panel Study. Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie und Statistik 241 (4), 527-549. (https://doi.org/10.1515/jbnst-2021-0001)
  • Fedorets, Alexandra, Stefan Kirchner, Jule Adriaans, and Oliver Giering. 2022. Data on Digital Transformation in the German Socio-Economic Panel. Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie und Statistik 242 (5-6), 691-705. (https://doi.org/10.1515/jbnst-2021-0056)

Field-de Field-de
Individual (PAPI) 2013: Field-de Field-de
Household (PAPI) 2013: 6) Household (PAPI) 2013 Field-de Field-de
Biography (PAPI) 2013: Field-de
Catch-up Individual 2013: Field-de
Youth (16-17 year-olds) 2013: Field-de
Mother and Child (Newborns) 2013: Field-de
Mother and Child (2-3-year-olds) 2013: Field-de
Mother and Child (5-6-year-olds) 2013: Field-de
Parents and Child (7-8-year-olds) 2013: Field-de
Mother and Child (9-10-year-olds) 2013: Field-de
Deceased Individual 2013: Field-de
Your Life abroad 2013: Field-de

Please find all sample specific questionnaires of this year and all questionnaires of previous years on this site

1) The new IAB-SOEP Migration Sample: an introduction into the methodology and the contents

2) How to Generate Spell Data from Data in "Wide" Format - Based on the Migration Biographies of the IAB-SOEP Migration Sample

3) Flowcharts for the Integrated Individual-Biography Questionnaire of the IAB-SOEP Migration Sample 2013

4) SOEP FiD – 'Familien in Deutschland', Data Documentation Release FiDv4.0

5) SOEP 2013 – Informationen zu den SOEP-Geocodes in SOEP v30

6) SOEP 2013 – Documentation on Biography and Life History Data for SOEP v30

7) The 2013 IAB-SOEP Migration Sample (M1): Sampling Design and Weighting Adjustment

8) Methodenbericht zum IAB-SOEP-Migrationssample 2013

9) SOEP 2013 – Methodenbericht zum Befragungsjahr 2013 (Welle 30) des Sozio-oekonomischen Panels in den Fortführungsstichproben A-K

10) SOEP FiD – 'Familien in Deutschland' 2013: Methodenbericht

11) SOEP 2013 – Documentation of the Person-Related Meta-dataset PPFAD for SOEP v30

12) SOEP 2013 – Documentation of the Household-related Meta-dataset HPFAD for SOEP v30

13) SOEP 2013 – Documentation of Person-Related Status and Generated Variables in PGEN for SOEP v30

14) SOEP 2013 – Documentation of Household-Related Status and Generated Variables in HGEN for SOEP v30

15) SOEP 2013 – Codebook for the $PEQUIV File 1984-2013: CNEF Variables with Extended Income Information for the SOEP

16) SOEP 2013 – Documentation of the Person-Related Meta-dataset HEALTH for SOEP v30

17) SOEP 2013 – Documentation of Generated Person-Level Long-Term Care Variables in PFLEGE

1) Handgreifkraftmessung im Sozio-oekonomischen Panel (SOEP) 2006 und 2008

2) The Request for Record Linkage in the IAB-SOEP Migration Sample

3) Job submission instructions for the SOEPremote System at DIW Berlin – Update 2014

4) Editing and Multiple Imputation of Item Non-response in the Wealth Module of the German Socio-Economic Panel

5) Die Vercodung der offenen Angaben zu den Ausbildungsberufen im Sozio-Oekonomischen Panel

6) SOEP 2010 – Preparation of data from the new SOEP consumption module: Editing, imputation, and smoothing

7) Kognitionspotenziale Jugendlicher - Ergänzung zum Jugendfragebogen der Längsschnittstudie Sozio-oekonomisches Panel (SOEP)

8) Multi-Itemskalen im SOEP Jugendfragebogen

9) Missing Income Data in the German SOEP: Incidence, Imputation and its Impact on the Income Distribution

10) Zur Erhebung des adaptiven Verhaltens von zwei- und dreijährigen Kindern im Sozio-oekonomischen Panel (SOEP)

11) SOEP 2006 – TIMEPREF: Dataset on the Economic Behavior Experiment on Time Preferences in the 2006 SOEP Survey

12) Assessing the distributional impact of "imputed rent" and "non-cash employee income" in microdata : Case studies based on EU-SILC (2004) and SOEP (2002)

All documentation for filtering can be found on this page

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