The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP [], for Sozio-oekonomisches Panel) is a longitudinal panel dataset of the population in Germany. It is a household based study which started in 1984 and which reinterviews adult household members annually. Additional samples have been taken from time to time. In 2015, there will be about 14,000 households, and more than 30,000 adult persons sampled. Some of the many topics surveyed include household composition, occupation, employment, earnings, health and life satisfaction. The annual surveys are conducted by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) and the Kantar Group. The survey is funded by the German Federal Government and the State of Berlin via the «Bund-Länder-Kommission» (State/Federal State Commission) for Educational Planning and Research Promotion.SOEP-Overview/Organization & Financing (URL accessed 2013-05-28)
Data are available to social science researchers in Germany and abroad in SPSS/PSPP, SAS/DAP, Stata, R/S-PLUS and ASCII format. Extensive documentation in English and German is available online.
SOEP data are integrated into the Cross National Equivalent File (CNEF) which contains panel data from Australia, Canada, Germany, Great Britain and the United States. The data distribution of the SOEP for researchers outside Germany is supplied with the CNEF by a group at Ohio State University. Application to use this international distribution has to be made to the DIW Berlin.
Subsamples
Sample Start-Year Households Persons Description A West-German (residents) 1984 n=4,528 n=12,245 Head is either German or other nationality than those in Sample B B Foreigners 1984 n=1,393 Head is either Turkish, Italian, Spanish, Greek or from the former Yugoslavia German reunification C East-Germans 1990 n=2,179 n=4,453 Head was a citizen of the GDR (expansion of survey territory) D Immigrants 1994/1995 n=522 n=1,078 At least one household member has moved to Germany after 1989 (expansion of survey population) E Refreshment 1998 n=1,067 n=1,923 Random sample covering all existing subsamples (total population) F Innovation 2000 n=6,052 n=10,890 Random sample covering all existing subsamples (total population) G High Income 2002 n=1,224 n=2,671 Monthly net household income is more than Euro 4,500 (7.500 DM) H Refreshment 2006 n=1,506 n=2,616 Random sample covering all existing subsamples (total population) I Incentive/Refreshment 2009 n=1,531 n=2,509 Random sample covering all existing subsamples (total population). Since 2011 it is no longer a part of the SOEP Core study. It is now a part of the new SOEP Innovation Study.SOEP Innovation Study (URL accessed 2013-05-28) J Refreshment 2011 n=3,136 n=5,161 Random sample covering all existing subsamples (total population)KRefeshment2012n=1,526 n=2,473Random sample covering all existing subsamples (total population)L1Cohort Sample (2007–2010)2010n=2,074n=7,670part of the study "Families in Germany" (FiD), at least one household member born between January 2007 and March 2010L2Family Types I2010n=2,500 n=8,838part of the study "Families in Germany" (FiD), at least one of the criteria: single parents, low-income families, and large families with three or more childrenL3Family Types II2011n=924n=3,579part of the study "Families in Germany" (FiD), at least one of the criteria: single parents, large families with three or more childrenM1Migration (1995–2010)2013n=2,732n=7,445 Immigrated to Germany after 1995 or second-generation immigrantsM2Migration (2009–2013)2015n=1,096n=2,638Immigrated to Germany between 2009 and 2013M3/4Refugee Sample 2016n=3,320n=9,965Entering Germany between January 2013 and December 2016 with asylum applicationM5Refugee Sample2017n=1,519 n=4,161Entering Germany between January 2013 and December 2016 with asylum applicationNRefresher Sample (PIAAC-L)2017n=2,314 n=4,807Former participants of the PIAAC study+SOEP Subsamples 2017Rainer Siegers, Veronika Belcheva, Tobias Silbermann (2019): SOEP-Core v34 – Documentation of Sample Sizes and Panel Attrition in the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) (1984 until 2017). SOEP Survey Paper 606). SOEP/DIW-Berlin, Berlin 2019
See also Canadian Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) Cross-National Equivalent File (CNEF) Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey (HILDA) Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) Swiss Household Panel (SHP) (URL:last access 2013-05-28) LISS panel (LISS) Survey on Household Income and Wealth (SHIW) UK households: a longitudinal study (UKHLS) / Understanding Society, UK formerly British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), UK
Notes
External links SOEP (official) website (URL accessed 2013-05-28) Cross National Equivalent File (CNEF) (URL accessed 2016-01-28) Swiss Household Panel (URL accessed 2013-05-28) LISS panel (URL accessed 2013-05-28)