Research data center for data on adult education

German PIAAC Scientific Use File 2023

We provide regarding the German PIAAC Main Study 2023 a Scientific Use File (SUF) for research purpose and off-site access (Download). The SUF complements the German Public Use File (PUF) and can also easily be merged with the PIAAC Public Use Files of other countries in order to perform cross-country analyses.

The German PIAAC Public Use File excluded certain variables (for example some of the national adaptions) and did not release some variables in all the available detail. The majority of the variables were suppressed or coarsened to adhere with national privacy legislation. The German PIAAC Scientific Use File 2023 includes many of the suppressed variables and also releases other variables in full detail (e.g. age or income).

ZA9009: Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, Cycle 2: PIAAC Germany 2023 – Scientific Use File
Data collection periodSeptember 2022 - May 2023
Available sinceJuly 2025
Target population16- to 65-year-old adults
Sample size4793
PIAAC instrumentsBackground Questionnaire; competence assessment in the domains literacy (incl. reading components), numeracy (incl. numeracy components) and adaptive problem solving
Main topics of Background QuestionnaireGeneral information about the household and respondents; educational attainment and participation in further education; labour-force status and employment; skill use at work and in daily life; readiness to learn and volunteering; participation in social life; social and emotional skills
RegionGermany
Further documentation

Codebook

Background Questionnaire (PDFHTML)

Survey of Adult Skills 2023 Data Analysis Manual

Technical Report

Data access

PIAAC data via GESIS Data Catalogue (DBK)

(directly to the document: “ZA9009_data_access.pdf“)

CitationZabal, A., Martin, S., Massing, N., Gauly B., Kapidzic, S., & Rammstedt, B. (2025). Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, Cycle 2: PIAAC Germany 2023 – Scientific Use File. Data file version 1.0.0 [ZA9009]. Cologne: GESIS Data Archive. doi: 10.4232/1.14530