Overview
- Roughly 810,000 people are randomly selected across Germany, including about 130,000 in Bavaria from 65,000 households, with sizable samples in North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg.
- Participation is compulsory under the Mikrozensus and federal statistics laws, with written reminders and a €250 coercive fine for continued nonresponse that does not remove the duty to answer.
- The questionnaire runs to about 130 pages with more than 200 questions covering household composition, work, income, education, health, housing, childcare and internet use.
- Households can respond online, by phone, on paper or in person, and surveys are conducted January through December, with roughly 130 interviewers active in Bavaria.
- Authorities stress strict confidentiality, publish only aggregated results, and may recontact selected households up to four times to track changes over time.