The SOEP Samples in Detail

Sample A “Residents of the Federal Republic of Germany” covers individuals in private households with a household head who does not belong to one of the main groups of “guest workers” (i.e., Turkish, Greek, Yugoslavian, Spanish, or Italian households). Because only a few foreigners are in Sample A, it is often called the “West German Sample” of the SOEP. In 1984 it covered 4,528 households with a sampling probability of about 0.0002.

Sample B “Foreigners in the Federal Republic of Germany” adds individuals in private households with a Turkish, Greek, Yugoslavian, Spanish, or Italian household head, who in 1984 constituted the main groups of foreigners in the FRG. Compared to Sample A, the population of Sample B is oversampled with a sampling probability of about 0.002. In the first wave, Sample B included 1,393 households.

Sample C “German Residents of the German Democratic Republic (GDR)” consists of individuals in private households in which the household head was a citizen of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). This meant that approximately 1.7% of the residential population of the GDR in June 1990 was excluded from the sample as foreigners (most of whom were living in “institutionalized” housing). In total, the sample started with 2,179 households with a sampling probability of about 0.0005.

Sample D “Immigrants” started in 1994/95 with two different samples. In 1994, the first sample, D1, had 236 households and in 1995, the second sample, D2, had 295 households, leading to a total of 531 households (D1 and D2) in 1995. This sample consisted of households in which at least one household member had moved from abroad to West Germany after 1984. The sampling probability is about 0.0002.

Sample E “Refresher” was added in 1998, selected from the entire population of private households in Germany. The households were chosen independently of the ongoing panel and its subsamples A through D. The aim was to increase the number of observations of the general population and to preserve its representativity. The selection scheme used for sample E essentially resembles the one used in subsample A. The number of households in the first wave of subsample E was $1,060$, with a sampling probability of about 0.00005. With the 2012 data release, parts of subsample E were extracted into the SOEP Innovation Sample. It is also the first sample in which Computer-Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) was used. At that time, interviews in Samples A-D were being conducted entirely using Paper-and-Pencil-Interviews (PAPI). To study mode effects, households from sample E were randomly allocated to either CAPI or PAPI.

Sample F “Refresher” was selected independently of all other subsamples from the population of private households in 2000. The selection scheme was slightly altered compared to the previous addition in Sampl’ E: while the “German” households (all adults aged 16 or older in the household have German nationality) were selected with a sampling probability of $0.00028$, the ’non-German’ households (at least one adult does not have German nationality) were oversampled with a probability of 0.0005. Overall, the number of added households in subsample F’s first wave amounts to 6,043.

Sample G “High-Income” entered the SOEP in 2002 independently from all other subsamples. The original selection scheme required that the responding households had a monthly income of at least DM 7,500 (EUR 3,835), which - due to the lack of an adequate sampling frame - were identified using a screening procedure. This sample of a total of 1,224 households increased the potential for analysis in the high-income bracket, which was previously difficult to study because of the low case numbers. The derived sampling probability is about 0.0014. Starting with Wave 2 in 2003, the selection scheme for this subsample was changed such that only households with a net monthly income of at least EUR 4,500 were followed.

Sample H “Refresher” started in 2006 as a random sample, again independently of all previous subsamples, covering all residential households in Germany. The added 1,506 households were sampled with a probability of 0.0001.

Sample I “Incentive Sample” started in 2009, where in the first wave, a new incentive scheme was tested to increase participation rates (see also [sec:PanelCare]. The sampling was independent of all other SOEP samples, adding a total number of 1,531 households to the SOEP. The sampling probability was 0.00013. This sample remained in the main data release for its first two waves (2010 and 2011, or waves Z and BA). With the 2012 data release, subsample I was extracted into the SOEP Innovation Sample.

Sample J “Refresher Sample” started in 2011 as a random sample, independently of all previous subsamples, covering residential households in Germany. The added3,136 households were sampled with a probability of 0.0002.

Sample K “Refresher Sample” started in 2012 as a random sample, drawn independently of all previous subsamples, covering the residential households in Germany. The added 1,526 households were sampled with a probability of 0.0001.

Sample L1 “Cohort Sample” covers private households in Germany in which at least one household member was born between January 2007 and March 2010 and was therefore a child at that time. Again, migrants identified were oversampled using an onomastic procedure. Sample L1 (as well as L2 and L3) was part of the SOEP-related study “Families in Germany” (FiD), which was integrated into the SOEP in 2014. As part of an evaluation project by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ) and the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF), the study focused on public benefits in Germany for married people and families. Therefore, the survey instruments used in waves BA to BD differ in some respects from those used in the other samples.

Sample L2 “Family Types I” covers private households in Germany that meet at least one of the following criteria for household composition: single parents, low-income families, and large families with three or more children. Similar to Sample G, we face the problem that the eligible sub-population is relatively small and an adequate sampling frame is lacking. So again, a preceding telephone screening procedure identifies eligible households.

Sample L3 “Family Types II” covers private households in Germany that meet at least one of the following criteria for household composition: single parents or large families with three or more children. It is conducted analogously to Sample L2 to increase the number of cases in these sub-populations.

Sample IAB-SOEP-M1 “Migration Sample” is a new migration sample added in 2013 with around 2,700 households drawn using register information from the German Federal Employment Agency. It includes individuals who immigrated to Germany after 1995 or second-generation immigrants.

Sample IAB-SOEP-M2 “Migration Sample” was another migration sample added in 2015 with around 1,100 households drawn using register information from the German Federal Employment Agency. It includes individuals who immigrated to Germany between 2010 and 2013.

Sample IAB-BAMF-SOEP-M3 “Refugee Sample” was a new refugee sample added in 2016 for the IAB-BAMF-SOEP Refugee Survey in which roughly 1,769 refugee households were interviewed repeatedly. Respondents aged 18 and older who entered Germany between January 2013 and December 2016 and who had filed an asylum application by April 2016 (regardless of their current legal status) were interviewed along with the other members of their households.

Sample IAB-BAMF-SOEP-M4 “Refugee Family Sample”: the 2016 “IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees” (Samples M3 and M4) is a joint project of the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), the Research Center of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF-FZ) and the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). The target population of the samples consists of 1,769 households with individuals who arrived in Germany between January 2013 and January 2016 and had applied for asylum by June 2016 or were hosted as part of specific programs of the federal states (irrespective of their asylum procedure and their current legal status). The first part of the sample (M3) was financed with funds allocated to the IAB from the research budget of the Federal Employment Agency (BA) . Sample M4 was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and has a focus on refugee families.

Sample IAB-BAMF-SOEP-M5 “Refugee Sample” M5 is the third boost sample of refugee households. The population of M5 covers adult refugees who applied for asylum in Germany between January 1, 2013, and December 31, 2016, and are currently living in Germany. The first wave of M5 was conducted in 2017. M5 added another 1,519 households of refugees who have migrated to Germany since 2013 to the SOEP framework.

Sample N “Refresher Sample (PIAAC-L)”: Sample N integrated 2,314 households of former participants in the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC and PIAAC-L) in 2017. This is the most recent addition to the SOEP-Core samples. Fieldwork in sample N was conducted between mid-March and mid-August and thus slightly later than the majority of samples A–L1.

Sample O “Social City Sample”: Sample O includes 935 households located primarily in bigger cities. It was designed to enhance the potential of the data for analysis by incorporating more city-specific environments. The sample was selected in cooperation with BBSR using a new sampling design based on regional data in areas where the “Soziale Stadt” (social city) urban development project is being carried out. Based on the digital data available on the boundaries of the “Soziale Stadt” areas, it was possible to create a new variable going back to the year 2000 that shows whether or not a household’s address is within an area covered by the project.

Sample P “Top Shareholder Sample”: Sample P was conceptualized as a sample of highly affluent households in Germany. Against the backdrop of increasing income and wealth inequality in Germany, despite economic growth in recent decades, a lack of data on wealthy populations has become increasingly evident in the social sciences. Goals to be accomplished with sample P were to improve the empirical basis of the poverty and wealth report of the German government as well as laying the foundation for medium and long-term cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. The gross sample of sample P consisted of 23,259 households.

Sample Q “LGB*”: Sample Q is a boost sample of a hard-to-survey population: lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender people, and those who identify as non-binary. While the actual percentage of LGBTQ+ people in the general population is unknown, this population was too scarcely represented in the SOEP to meaningfully analyze this group. 835 households were recruited via an approximately 9-month long telephone screening process. Of these households 477 participated between April and November.

Sample IAB-BAMF-SOEP-M6 “Refugee Sample”: M6 is the acronym for the fourth top-up sample for households that represents refugees. The population of M6 covers two groups: firstly, adult refugees who arrived in Germany between January 1, 2013 and December 2016 (“Refreshment”) and secondly adult refugees who came to Germany between January 1, 2017 and June 2019 (“Enlargement”) with a strongly disproportionate oversampling of refugees from East- and West-Africa.

Sample IAB-SOEP-M7 “Migration Sample”: Like the older migration samples M1 and M2, the Integrated Employment Biographies Sample (IEBS) of the Federal Employment Agency (BA) served as the sampling frame for both boost samples. Boost sample M7’s goal was to capture migration dynamics and processes from 2016 to 2018 with a focus on EU migration. To ensure that statistically significant group comparisons can be made, sampling was restricted to the three most significant countries of origin in that time period: Romania, Bulgaria, and Poland.

Sample IAB-SOEP-M8a “Migration Sample”: Like the older migration samples M1 and M2, the Integrated Employment Biographies Sample (IEBS) of the Federal Employment Agency (BA) served as the sampling frame for both boost samples. Boost sample M8a was designed to help evaluate the skilled worker immigration law (Fachkräfteeinwanderungsgesetz), which came into effect March 1, 2020, and targeted migrants from third countries that have been granted permission to work in Germany between January 2019 and January 2020, sampling them as a control group for a treatment group that will be sampled at a later date.

Sample IAB-SOEP-M8b “Migration Sample”: The refreshment sample M8b was designed to help evaluate the skilled worker immigration law (Fachkräfteeinwanderungsgesetz), which came into effect March 1st, 2020, and targeted migrants from non-EU third countries that came to Germany between 2019 and 2020. The Institute for Employment Research (IAB) provided the random sample. A total of 13,364 households were contacted between August 2022 and January 2023.

Sample R “Refresher sample”: The target population for the refreshment sample covers the general population in Germany aged 18 to 70 years living in private households. To sample this population and explicitly address the lignite mining districts we stratify the municipalities at the first stage by federal state and lignite mining districts. At the second stage, we stratify the population by age into the strata 18 to 45 olds and the second stratum covers the population aged 46 to 70 years. This stratification is chosen because we implement an oversampling in the stratum covering the younger part of the population. The aim of the sample R was to realize a total of 6,000 households: of these, 1,000 households in four lignite mining regions. A total of 24,932 households were contacted between July 2022 and January 2023.

Sample IAB-SOEP-M8c “Migration Sample”: M8c targeted migrants who have been granted permission to work in Germany between November 2021 and June 2022. In sample M8c, however, 20% of the household sample were invited to take part in person (CAPI) and 80% were invited to take part online. Like previous migration samples M1, M2, M7, M8a, and M8b, the Integrated Employment Biographies Sample (IEBS) of the Federal Employment Agency (BA) served as the sampling frame for the boost sample. A total of 16,500 households were contacted between July 2023 and December 2023.

Sample IAB-BAMF-SOEP-M9 “Refugee Sample”: The 2023 boost sample M9 supplements the samples of the IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees and consists of three groups. The first group refreshes the samples M3 to M6 with households of refugees who arrived in Germany between January 1, 2017, and August 31, 2022. The sample also augments the survey by sampling households of Ukrainian refugees who arrived in Germany between February 24, 2022 and August 1, 2022. These are split into two further groups, one for those who came immediately after the Ukrainian invasion on February 24, 2022 until June 8, 2022, and those who came between June 9, 2022 and August 1, 2022. The first group of the Ukrainian refugees was part of the IAB-BiB/FReDA-BAMF-SOEP study before, while the other group is a new refresher.

More information about “Sample Sizes and Panel Attrition” can be found here

Last change: Jul 14, 2025