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SOEP-Core v32i.1 (update international edition, data 1984-2015)

International Scientific Use Version of the SOEP data (95 % version of the dataset https://doi.org/10.5684/soep.v32). This data set can be used worldwide.

Dataset Information

Title: Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), data from 1984-2015, International Scientific Use Version

DOI: 10.5684/soep.v32i.1
Collection period: 1984-2015
Publication date: February 15, 2017
Principal investigators: Jürgen Schupp, Jan Goebel, Martin Kroh, Carsten Schröder, Charlotte Bartels, Klaudia Erhardt, Alexandra Fedorets, Marco Giesselmann, Markus Grabka, Peter Krause, Simon Kühne, David Richter, Diana Schacht, Paul Schmelzer, Christian Schmitt, Daniel Schnitzlein, Rainer Siegers, Knut Wenzig

Please follow for the complete information on this data set the DOI of the original dataset https://doi.org/10.5684/soep.v32i


Data set information:

Number of units 108.063
Number of variables 61,902 in 413 data sets
Data format STATA, SPSS, SAS, CSV

MD5 fingerprints

Distribution format SOEP-Core
zip file
all files
Stata bilingual babbc990291b271d46ef13c25eeee17a   | TXT, 18.11 KB
Stata German 178ffd0e3fedd60c9c1083ce0158668c   | TXT, 18.11 KB
Stata English 9d2b15dd5520c495fda783434189256a   | TXT, 18.11 KB
SPSS German 5fde56e85b330ad917821093ce95e317   | TXT, 18.11 KB
SPSS English be8c257385e6c8f42a70a0f7bb5ff144   | TXT, 18.11 KB
SAS German 1b251c269e72a93e531182baa7217bb5   | TXT, 20.23 KB
SAS English 70f27999290e8147d7b220dd7d261c76   | TXT, 20.23 KB
CSV 296a84b7d952eb6fb15bc672a8603443   | TXT, 18.11 KB
Teaching version
Stata German (teaching) 5ceea506a3053f2b6f4668d3bc6e5c97   | TXT, 18.11 KB
Stata English (teaching) f3b633cbec6b62e08dc823bdeda35027   | TXT, 18.11 KB
SPSS German (teaching) 4fd52740e51fd4d9e59c0234cf5a0563   | TXT, 18.11 KB
SPSS English (teaching) 5a2c51e274cc3d0484d8fad5087ea313   | TXT, 18.11 KB
SAS German (teaching) da1a8caef61f6240f5f8c78147f3ea19   | TXT, 20.13 KB
SAS English (teaching) e25acf07f5a074d8bddf572e61756d63   | TXT, 20.13 KB
Distribution format SOEPlong zip file
all fies
Stata bilingual (long) 3a50b87584128f1834a0e873f336576a   | TXT, 0.77 KB
Stata German (long) fadfedddaeeada2852d15db794ea6ced   | TXT, 0.77 KB
Stata English (long) 77f6fcfb933ffe0552c4a8861ed075b8   | TXT, 0.77 KB
SPSS German (long) 6da4bff862d0b5f8288d7ccfb22305f7   | TXT, 0.77 KB
SPSS English (long) ba8b42d9e99556115146d664f056c5f1   | TXT, 0.77 KB
SAS German (long) c9b6b1ca90d3569a3f9b280ee3a0cbe8   | TXT, 0.96 KB
SAS English (long) 32490cb6dbd42064844b2e6fa4906186   | TXT, 0.96 KB
CSV (long) 2bc9e1a3e6c132df4b95e89d71411b99  

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: IAB-BAMF-SOEP survey of refugees (M3-M5), data for the years 2016-2021,

  • Herbert Brücker, Nina Rother, Jürgen Schupp. 2017. IAB-BAMF-SOEP Befragung von Geflüchteten 2016. Studiendesign, Feldergebnisse sowie Analysen zu schulischer wie beruflicher Qualifikation, Sprachkenntnissen sowie kognitiven Potenzialen. IAB Forschungsbericht 13/2017.

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

  • Matiaske, W., Schmidt, T. D., Halbmeier, C., Maas, M., Holtmann, D., Schröder, C., Böhm, T., Liebig, S., and Kritikos, A. S. (2023). SOEP-LEE2 : Linking Surveys on Employees to Employers in Germany. Journal of Economics and Statistics 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)


Individual (PAPI) 2015: Field-de Field-en Var-de Var-en
Household 2015: Field-de Field-en Var-de Var-en
Biography (PAPI) 2015: Field-de Var-de Var-en
Youth (16-17 year-olds) 2015: Field-de Var-de Var-en
Pre-Teen (11-12 year-olds) 2015: Field-de
Mother and Child (Newborns) 2015: Field-de
Mother and Child (2-3-year-olds) 2015: Field-de
Mother and Child (5-6-year-olds) 2015: Field-de
Parents and Child (7-8-year-olds) 2015: Field-de
Mother and Child (9-10-year-olds) 2015: Field-de
Deceased Individual 2015: Field-de

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

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

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

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

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

5) The Measurement of Labor Market Entries with SOEP Data: Introduction to the Variable EINSTIEG_ARTK

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

7) SOEP 2015 – Informationen zu den SOEP-Geocodes in SOEP v32

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

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

10) Das Studiendesign der IAB-BAMF-SOEP Befragung von Geflüchteten

11) Scales Manual IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees in Germany – revised version

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

13) SOEP Scales Manual (updated for SOEP-Core v32.1)

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

15) Die Vercodung der offenen Angaben zur beruflichen Tätigkeit nach der International Standard Classification of Occupations 2008 (ISCO08) - Direktvercodung - Vorgehensweise und Entscheidungsregeln bei nicht eindeutigen Angaben

16) Die Vercodung der offenen Angaben zur beruflichen Tätigkeit nach der Klassifikation der Berufe 2010 (KldB 2010): Vorgehensweise und Entscheidungsregeln bei nicht eindeutigen Angaben

17) Multi-Itemskalen im SOEP Jugendfragebogen

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

19) Dokumentation zum Entwicklungsprozess des Moduls „Einstellungen zu sozialer Ungleichheit“ im SOEP (v38)

20) SOEP-CoV: Project and Data Documentation

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

22) SOEP-Core v34 – PFLEGE: Documentation of Generated Person-level Long-term Care Variables

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

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

25) SOEP-Core v36: Codebook for the EU-SILC-like panel for Germany based on the SOEP

All documentation for filtering can be found on this page

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