The Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) is a representative, multi-cohort survey that has been running since 1984. Every year, individuals in households throughout Germany are surveyed by our survey institute on behalf of DIW Berlin. These respondents provide information on topics such as their income, employment history, education, and health. Because the same people are surveyed every year, it is possible to track long-term psychological, economic, societal, and social developments. To keep pace with changes in society, random samples are added regularly and the survey is adapted accordingly.
Title: Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), data from 1984-2022, (SOEP-Core, v39, EU Edition)
DOI Zur Erklärung von DOI und dessen Verwendung gibt es hier Informationen . : 10.5684/soep.core.v39eu
Collection period: 1984-2022
Publication date: 2024-10-17
Principal investigators: Jan Goebel, Markus M. Grabka, Carsten Schröder, Sabine Zinn, Charlotte Bartels, Mattis Beckmannshagen, Andreas Franken, Martin Gerike, Florian Griese, Christoph Halbmeier, Selin Kara, Peter Krause, Elisabeth Liebau, Jana Nebelin, Marvin Petrenz, Sarah Satilmis, Rainer Siegers, Hans Walter Steinhauer, Felix Süttmann, Knut Wenzig, Jascha Dräger, Miriam Gauer, Yogam Tchokni, Claudia Saalbach
Contributor: infas Institut für angewandte Sozialwissenschaft (Data Collector)
Population: Persons living in private households in Germany
Special samples: IAB-SOEP Migration Sample (since 2013) and IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of refugees (since 2016). See the chapter SOEP-Samples in Detail on the SOEPcompanion for a description of all our samples.
Selection method: All samples of SOEP are multi-stage random samples which are regionally clustered. The respondents (households) are selected by random-walk or register sample.
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 12 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 17 years of age, mainly concerning attendance at institutions (kindergarten, elementary school, etc.)
Citation of the Data Set: Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), version 39, data for years 1984-2022 (SOEP-Core v39, EU Edition). 2024. DOI:10.5684/soep.core.v39eu
If you don‘t exclude observations from the Migration Samples in your analysis, please also cite as follows:
IAB-SOEP Migration Samples (M1, M2, M7, M8 oder M8b), data of the years 2013-2022, DOI: 10.5684/soep.iab-soep-mig.2022
If you don‘t exclude observations from the Refugee Samples in your analysis, please also cite as follows:
IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees (M3-M6), data of the years 2016-2022, DOI: 10.5684/soep.iab-bamf-soep-mig.2022
Publications using this file should refer to the above DOI Find an explanation on the usage of DOI here.and cite following references
If you do not exclude the cases of the migration samples in your analysis, then please also cite the following reference:
If you do not exclude the cases of the refugee samples in your analysis, please also cite:
If you use data from the SOEP-LEE2 surveys, please also cite:
If you would like to refer more specifically, please also cite:
Details on the current data delivery can be found as a supplied "WhatsNew" document in the data package or here.
Context questions about the interview 2022: 2) Context questions about the interview 2022-de
SOEP-LEE2 Self-employed Persons 2022: 4) SOEP-LEE2 Self-employed Persons 2022-de
Context questions about the interview 2022: 6) Context questions about the interview 2022-en
SOEP-LEE2 Self-employed Persons 2022: 8) SOEP-LEE2 Self-employed Persons 2022-en
CAMCES 2022: 10) CAMCES 2022-en
Individual (PAPI) 2022: 12) Individual (PAPI) 2022-de
Individual (techn.) 2022: 14) Individual (techn.) 2022-de
Individual (PAPI) 2022: 16) Individual (PAPI) 2022-en
Individual (techn.) 2022: 18) Individual (techn.) 2022-en
Individual (PAPI) 2022: 20) Individual (PAPI) 2022 Field-en
Household (PAPI) 2022: 22) Household (PAPI) 2022-de
Household (techn.) 2022: 24) Household (techn.) 2022-de
Household (PAPI) 2022: 26) Household (PAPI) 2022-en
Household (techn.) 2022: 28) Household (techn.) 2022-en
Household (PAPI) 2022: 30) Household (PAPI) 2022 Field-en
Biography (PAPI) 2022: 32) Biography (PAPI) 2022-de
Biography (techn.) 2022: 34) Biography (techn.) 2022-de
Biography (PAPI) 2022: 36) Biography (PAPI) 2022-en
Biography (techn.) 2022: 38) Biography (techn.) 2022-en
Biography (PAPI) 2022: 40) Biography (PAPI) 2022 Field-en
Catch-up Individual (PAPI) 2022: 42) Catch-up Individual (PAPI) 2022-de
Catch-up Individual (techn.) 2022: 44) Catch-up Individual (techn.) 2022-de
Catch-up Individual (PAPI) 2022: 46) Catch-up Individual (PAPI) 2022-en
Catch-up Individual (techn.) 2022: 48) Catch-up Individual (techn.) 2022-en
Catch-up Individual (PAPI) 2022: 50) Catch-up Individual (PAPI) 2022 Field-en
Youth (16-17-year-olds, techn.) 2022: 52) Youth (16-17-year-olds, techn.) 2022-de 54) Youth (16-17-year-olds, techn.) 2022-en
Early Youth (13-14-year-olds, techn.) 2022: 56) Early Youth (13-14-year-olds, techn.) 2022-de 58) Early Youth (13-14-year-olds, techn.) 2022-en
Pre-teen (11-12-year-olds, techn.) 2022: 60) Pre-teen (11-12-year-olds, techn.) 2022-de 62) Pre-teen (11-12-year-olds, techn.) 2022-en
Childhood (0-11-year-olds) 2022: 64) Childhood (0-11-year-olds) 2022-de 66) Childhood (0-11-year-olds) 2022-en
Deceased Individual (PAPI) 2022: 68) Deceased Individual (PAPI) 2022-de
Deceased Individual (techn.) 2022: 70) Deceased Individual (techn.) 2022-de
Deceased Individual (PAPI) 2022: 72) Deceased Individual (PAPI) 2022-en
Deceased Individual (techn.) 2022: 74) Deceased Individual (techn.) 2022-en
Deceased Individual (PAPI) 2022: 76) Deceased Individual (PAPI) 2022 Field-en
Residential Enviroment 2022: 78) Residential Enviroment 2022-de 80) Residential Enviroment 2022-en
Please find all sample specific questionnaires of this year and all questionnaires of previous years on this site
1) SOEP-Core v39 – LEE2BRUTTO: SOEP-LEE2 Employer Fieldwork Data
2) SOEP-Core v39 – LEE2ESTAB: SOEP-LEE2 Employer Survey Data
3) SOEP-Core v39 – LEE2PERSON: SOEP-LEE2 PID-EID Linkage File
4) SOEP-Core v39 – SELFEMPL: Self-Employed Survey Data
5) SOEP-Core v39 – CHILDL: Dataset on Children in the SOEP, Including “Mother & Child”, “Parent & Child”, and “Childhood” Questionnaires
6) SOEP-Core v39 – PPATHL: Person-Related Meta-Dataset
7) SOEP-Core v39 – HPATHL: Household-Related Meta-Dataset
8) SOEP-Core v39 – PBRUTTO: Person-Related Gross File
9) SOEP-Core v39 – HBRUTTO: Household-Related Gross File
10) SOEP-Core v39 – PGEN: Person-Related Status and Generated Variables
11) SOEP-Core v39 – Codebook for the $PEQUIV File 1984-2022: CNEF Variables with Extended Income Information for the SOEP
12) SOEP-Core v39 – BIOIMMIG: Generated Information on Immigration History
13) SOEP-Core v39 – HEALTH
14) SOEP-Core v39 – BIOBIRTH: Biological Parent/Child Connections
15) SOEP-Core v39 – INTERVIEWER
1) Handgreifkraftmessung im Sozio-oekonomischen Panel (SOEP) 2006 und 2008
2) Documentation on ISCED Generation Using the CAMCES Tool in the IAB-SOEP Migration Samples M1/M2
3) The new IAB-SOEP Migration Sample: an introduction into the methodology and the contents
4) The Request for Record Linkage in the IAB-SOEP Migration Sample
5) Flowcharts for the Integrated Individual-Biography Questionnaire of the IAB-SOEP Migration Sample 2013
6) The Measurement of Labor Market Entries with SOEP Data: Introduction to the Variable EINSTIEG_ARTK
7) Job submission instructions for the SOEPremote System at DIW Berlin – Update 2014
8) SOEP 2015 – Informationen zu den SOEP-Geocodes in SOEP v32
9) Editing and Multiple Imputation of Item Non-response in the Wealth Module of the German Socio-Economic Panel
10) Die Vercodung der offenen Angaben zu den Ausbildungsberufen im Sozio-Oekonomischen Panel
11) Das Studiendesign der IAB-BAMF-SOEP Befragung von Geflüchteten
12) Scales Manual IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees in Germany – revised version
13) SOEP 2010 – Preparation of data from the new SOEP consumption module: Editing, imputation, and smoothing
14) SOEP Scales Manual (updated for SOEP-Core v32.1)
15) Kognitionspotenziale Jugendlicher - Ergänzung zum Jugendfragebogen der Längsschnittstudie Sozio-oekonomisches Panel (SOEP)
16) 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
17) Die Vercodung der offenen Angaben zur beruflichen Tätigkeit nach der Klassifikation der Berufe 2010 (KldB 2010): Vorgehensweise und Entscheidungsregeln bei nicht eindeutigen Angaben
18) Multi-Itemskalen im SOEP Jugendfragebogen
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) Zur Erhebung des adaptiven Verhaltens von zwei- und dreijährigen Kindern im Sozio-oekonomischen Panel (SOEP)
23) SOEP 2013 – Documentation of Generated Person-Level Long-Term Care Variables in PFLEGE
24) SOEP-Core v34 – PFLEGE: Documentation of Generated Person-level Long-term Care Variables
25) SOEP 2006 – TIMEPREF: Dataset on the Economic Behavior Experiment on Time Preferences in the 2006 SOEP Survey
26) SOEP-Core v34: Codebook for the EU-SILC-Like Panel for Germany Based on the SOEP
27) Assessing the distributional impact of "imputed rent" and "non-cash employee income" in microdata : Case studies based on EU-SILC (2004) and SOEP (2002)
28) 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
1) SOEP-Core – 2022: Report of Survey Methodology and Fieldwork