A dataset on demographics has been added to the NextGen Harmonised Data Gateway being delivered as part of the Infra4NextGen project.
The I4NG Harmonised Data: Demographics! integrates socio-demographic data from five major cross-national survey programmes: Eurobarometer, European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS), European Social Survey (ESS), European Values Study (EVS), and International Social Survey Programme (ISSP).
This latest harmonised dataset includes a core set of background variables used to describe and differentiate survey respondents, covering sex, age, education, employment status, place of living (urban/rural), legal partnership status, and religious affiliation.
This includes information about all respondents that provided survey data for the five topic-related harmonised datasets made available for the first time in February 2026.
These harmonised datasets focus on the five pillars of the NextGenerationEU programme: Make it Green! (ZA9070) Make it Strong! (ZA9071), Make it Equal! (ZA9072), Make it Digital! (ZA9073) and Make it Healthy! (ZA9074). The syntax file that comes with the download facilitates easy data merging.
The harmonisation process merged the demographic items across surveys alongside standardised coding, scale direction, and missing-value structures across all source variables.
This new dataset also includes demographic information from those who took part in the self-completion panel survey (CRONOS-3). Attitudinal and behavioural information from this source will be included in a second version of harmonised data on the five topics.
NextGen Harmonised Data Gateway
The NextGen Harmonised Data Gateway serves as a central hub for all aspects of data harmonisation.
It provides users with comprehensive resources organised into three sections: the Variable Database, Harmonisation Toolbox, and Data.
Together, these sections offer transparent access to the datasets and provide the tools needed to understand and utilise the harmonisation process.
Find out more
An online training session – Evaluation of test equating and linking methods for data harmonisation – will be delivered by Dr. Rabia Karatoprak Ersen from 11am-12.30pm (CEST) on Tuesday 29 September.
An interactive online training course is available: Data Harmonisation.
Datasets can be downloaded from the Harmonised Data Gateway’s webpage.
The Gateway was developed by a team of researchers led by Dr. Insa Bechert at GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences.
If you have any further questions, please contact the data harmonisation team via email.
