Data

There are currently eight data modules in SPIN covering different aspects of social policy, as well as two modules in progress. You can explore and download the datasets below. The datasets provide comparative and longitudinal indicators on key areas of social policy across countries.

Photo: Ingmari Andersson.

General information

The datasets published on this website are in the public domain. If you use them in your research, please cite the datasets accordingly and report your publication details using the form below. This helps support the research and ensures its continuation. You may also subscribe to our newsletter to receive updates when datasets are revised.

How to cite

If you use the SPIN database, please specify the research infrastructure and/or the specific data module. The corresponding citation can be found in each dataset’s codebook.

Example of in-text citation SIED:
Our empirical analyses are based on data from the Social Insurance Entitlements dataset (SIED, Nelson et al. 2024).

Example of in-text citation SPIN:
The Social Policy Indicators (SPIN) database (Nelson et al. 2020) contains several modules with cross-national data on social policy.

References:
Nelson, K., Fredriksson, D., Korpi, T., Korpi, W., Palme, J., & Sjöberg, O. (2020). The Social Policy Indicators (SPIN) database. International Journal of Social Welfare, 29(3), 285–289.

https://doi.org/10.1111/ijsw.12418

Nelson, K., Helmdag, J., Burman, S., Dalén, P., Eneroth, M., & Strigén, J. (2024). Social Insurance Entitlements Dataset (SIED) 2000–2023. Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI), Stockholm University.

su.se/social-policy-indicators-database

Report data use

If you publish work based on any of the datasets in SPIN, please report your publication details using the form below. This helps support the research and ensures its continuation.

Submit publication details (form)

Report data use

Data updates

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The Child Benefit dataset (CBD) covers various forms of child benefit programs, including universal and employment related child benefits, income-related child allowances, child tax rebates on social security contributions, child tax allowances and child tax credits for 36 countries 1960–2020. Focus is on the level of benefits, expressed in absolute amounts and as percentages of average wages.

The Child Care dataset (CCD) is a new SPIN module based on questionnaires sent to government agencies in EU Member States and Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland and the United States. It covers three core dimensions of child care: coverage, financing and levels of provision.

Status: This dataset is under construction and will be available for download once completed. For more information, contact:

spin@sofi.su.se

The Housing Benefits dataset (HBEN) is part of the SPIN database at the Swedish Institute for Social Research (Stockholm University). It is an ongoing research project with the aim to improve the possibilities to conduct large-scale institutionally informed comparative and longitudinal analyses of social policy in general and of housing benefits in particular. The current version of HBEN includes detailed information about the generosity of means-tested benefits in 39 countries on an annual basis from 2001 to 2020.

The Out-of-Work Benefits dataset (OUTWB) covers various types of out-of-work benefits in a large number of countries. Variables in the dataset are calculated based on information provided by the OECD (Benefit and Wages project):

http://www.oecd.org/els/soc/benefits-and-wages.

The dataset not only includes net replacement rates across a great number of earnings-levels, but includes also various measures capturing the progressivity of income replacement. Besides unemployment insurance, the various benefits packages in the dataset include information on unemployment assistance, social assistance, child benefits, fiscal benefits and housing allowances. In the current version, the dataset includes 39 countries covering the years 2001–2021.

The Parental Leave Benefit (PLB) dataset is a SPIN data module that provides indicators on parental leave benefits and related family policy programmes. The PLB aims to facilitate systematic, comparative and longitudinal institutional analyses of the causes and consequences of family policy development. The latest update contains information on various types of leave benefits for four different family types in 37 countries between 1950 and 2024.

The Social Assistance and Minimum Income Protection Interim dataset (SAMIP) includes detailed information on the benefit position of low-income households in industrialized welfare democracies. In the current version SAMIP includes 34 countries and observations are for every year 1990-2019. The variables in the dataset are based on a type-case approach, where benefit levels have been calculated for three typical households; a single person, a lone parent, and a two parent family.

The Social Citizenship Indicator Program (SCIP) covers institutional structures of core social insurance programs. Detailed information is provided on citizens’ rights and duties based on legislation related to five major programs, including old age pensions and benefits in cases of sickness, unemployment and work accidents. SCIP includes 18 affluent countries with uninterrupted political democracy during the postwar period. Information refers to fourteen time points: 1930, 1933, 1939, 1947, 1950, and thereafter every fifth year up to 2005.

Note: The SCIP dataset is discontinued and the last update was in October 2013. Updates to core SCIP variables are published in the Social Insurance Entitlements Dataset (SIED).

The Social Insurance Entitlements Dataset (SIED) builds on the SCIP project, offering an expanded geographical and temporal scope. The latest SIED update covers annual data for 37 countries from 2000 to 2024, rather than the five-year intervals for 18 countries used in SCIP. The dataset covers the same social insurance programmes as SCIP and uses the same variable names. Earlier SIED versions cover five-year intervals from 1930 to 2020 and can be accessed upon request. Future updates to SIED will continue to include annual data up to the most recent year and will extend coverage back to the 1960s.

The Social Policy in East Asia dataset (SPEAD) is a new SPIN module that is developed at SOFI, initially covering social insurance programs in e.g. Indonesia, Korea (republic), Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. The dataset will eventually be extended in scope and include also social assistance and family benefits, plus additional low- and mid-income countries across the globe.

Status: This dataset is under construction and will be available for download once completed. For more information, contact:

spin@sofi.su.se

The Student Support and Fees Dataset (SSFD) aims to enhance the capacity for large-scale, institutionally informed comparative and longitudinal analyses of student finance systems, and of students’ rights to financial aid and their obligations to pay tuition fees.

The dataset is based on calculated levels of support and fees for three model families, focusing on the social rights and obligations of full-time undergraduate students.

The current version of the SSFD covers 33 high-income countries for the years 2005, 2010, 2015, 2020, and 2022. Ongoing SSFD data collection is part of a broader research agenda that seeks to understand the causes and consequences of student finance systems in affluent countries.

Project leader and contact: Krzysztof Czarnecki, Swedish Institute for Social Research.

Suggested citation for publications using the SSFD dataset:
Czarnecki, K., Korpi, T., Nelson, K. (2021). Student support and tuition fee systems in comparative perspective. Studies in Higher Education, 46, 2152–2166.

https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2020.1716316

Last updated: 2026-03-30

Source: Swedish Institute for Social Research

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