The survey collects relevant information about respondents' financial literacy, financial inclusion and socio-demographics. Of particular interest are the financial knowledge, behaviour and attitudes as well as awareness and holding of financial products of adults in Germany. The questionnaire consists of 40 questions and covers e.g. topics such as keeping track of finances, making-ends-meet and longer-term financial planning. Furthermore, numeracy skills within a financial context and basic knowledge of financial concepts (e.g. time-value of money, compound interest or diversification) are tested.

The survey is coordinated by the OECD International Network on Financial Education (INFE) and was developed to provide internationally comparable data on financial literacy and financial inclusion. The first two waves were carried out in 2010 and 2016 by the Deutsche Bundesbank in cooperation with the market research institute GfK. In total, about 1000 telephone interviews were conducted via random digit dialling in each wave. Data for the third survey wave were collected by BaFin. BaFin along with the Deutsche Bundesbank is also a member of the OECD/INFE network and since the third wave responsible for data collection for this project. During the last survey round a sample of 1003 persons were interviewed between August and September 2019. The anonymized micro data for all three waves are available as Scientific Use Files.

Available modules

The data is divided into multiple survey waves that can be applied for individually or together. 

Units worth protecting

No units worth protecting as the data is available as a scientific use file.