Data structure
The Research Data Centre of the German Pension Insurance (FDZ-RV) provides scientific researchers with the process-produced micro-datasets of statutory pension insurance.
In what form is the data available?
The data products are prepared as historical or cross-sectional data.
Historical data refers to the insurance biography of a person insured under statutory pension insurance. Accordingly, it concerns data collected for the same person over an extended period of time.
Cross-sectional data refers to certain reference dates (e.g. sample of pensions as of 31 December of the reporting year) or the development in the overall reporting year (e.g. admission and discontinuation of pensions). This data enables a snapshot at a particular point in time. Some data products are composed of cumulative time series of multiple cross-sections.
The range of data available at the FDZ-RV can be divided into four thematic areas:
Supplementary information
Due to inconsistencies within the system, the names of variables may unfortunately change within the same data products over the course of multiple years. The files listed under “Materials for download” are intended to give an overview of the changes to the variable names within the same data products (Scientific Use Files). They contain the variables for the Scientific Use Files “Active insured persons”, “Sample of pensions”, “Pension admissions”, “Completed rehabilitations in the insurance history”, “Sample of insured accounts” and “Complete lives of insured persons”.