LIS Database

The Luxembourg Income Study Database (LIS) is the largest available income database of harmonised microdata collected from about 50 countries in Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Australasia spanning five decades.

Harmonized into a common framework (2019 Template LIS User Guide), LIS datasets contain household- and person-level data ( List of Variables, Printable version ) on labour income, capital income, pensions, public social benefits (excl. pensions) and private transfers, as well as taxes and contributions, demography, employment, and expenditures.

For generic codebook of the LIS Database variables’ names, definitions, codes, comments, see here.
For extensive documentation on the LIS Database, enter METIS.

For users interested in knowing more about the changes between the 2011 and 2019 Template:
– a detailed list of changes between the 2011 and 2019 Template can be accessed here.
– the correspondence between old and new income and consumption LIS variables can be seen here.
– the correspondence between old and new other LIS variables can be seen here.

For users interested in accessing the pre-revised datasets (following the 2011 Template):
– in order to access those pre-revised files, choose the project “LISPRE” from LISSY.
– you can consult the old LIS variable list here.

List of LIS Datasets

Note: Year given is the income reference year, that is the year to which the income data pertain.

Newly added datasets (2023 Autumn Data Splash) are listed in blue

* Forthcoming datasets are listed in red

** The inclusion of Ivory Coast, Mali and Vietnam was accomplished through the research agreements between the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and LIS. LIS is grateful for this cooperation that allowed for these valuable additions.

For convenience, throughout our documentation, LIS uses short country/territory names – i.e., those that are commonly used in cross-national academia – in conjunction with standard two-letter ISO abbreviations. This convention does not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of LIS concerning the legal status of any country or territory. LIS recognizes that several supranational organizations designate country/territory names which may differ from the ones that LIS uses. Examples include:

United Nations
World Bank
International Labour Organization
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development