# Socio-Economic Panel

The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP [/'zœp/], 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.
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

SOEP Subsamples 2017 :
| Sample | 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 | n=12,245 | 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 Euro4,500 (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. |
| J | Refreshment | 2011 | n=3,136 | n=5,161 | Random sample covering all existing subsamples (total population) |
| K | Refeshment | 2012 | n=1,526 | n=2,473 | Random sample covering all existing subsamples (total population) |
| L1 | Cohort Sample (2007–2010) | 2010 | n=2,074 | n=7,670 | part of the study "Families in Germany" (FiD), at least one household member born between Jan 2007 and March 2010 |
| L2 | Family Types I | 2010 | n=2,500 | n=8,838 | part 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 children |
| L3 | Family Types II | 2011 | n=924 | n=3,579 | part of the study "Families in Germany" (FiD), at least one of the criteria: single parents, large families with three or more children |
| M1 | Migration (1995–2010) | 2013 | n=2,732 | n=7,445 | Immigrated to Germany after 1995 or second-generation immigrants |
| M2 | Migration (2009–2013) | 2015 | n=1,096 | n=2,638 | Immigrated to Germany between 2009 and 2013 |
| M3/4 | Refugee Sample | 2016 | n=3,320 | n=9,965 | Entering Germany between Jan 2013 and Dec 2016 with asylum application |
| M5 | Refugee Sample | 2017 | n=1,519 | n=4,161 | Entering Germany between Jan 2013 and Dec 2016 with asylum application |
| N | Refresher Sample (PIAAC-L) | 2017 | n=2,314 | n=4,807 | Former participants of the PIAAC study |