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 of East Germans (from 1990, coincident with reunification) and immigrants (in 1994) as well as in 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2006. In 2007, there will be about 12,000 households, and more than 20,000 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).