What is the European Social Survey (ESS) website?

Updated

The European Social Survey (ESS) website at europeansocialsurvey.org is the home of a cross-national research programme that provides high-quality open access data measuring public attitudes, beliefs and behaviour across Europe. It is the place to go if you want to download survey datasets, read methodology documentation, or browse published findings. Since 2013 the ESS has held European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) status. Note that all ESS data and documentation are now accessible only through the ESS Data Portal, which you reach from this site.

What the ESS offers

The site organises its content around a few core areas:

  • Data — the latest release is Round 11 (2023/24), with data and post-stratification weights available from all 31 participating countries. Initial Round 12 (2025/26) data is scheduled for first publication in January 2027.
  • Methodology — the ESS publishes its Survey Specification and explains the methods behind its cross-national surveys, reflecting its stated aim of setting high quality standards in the field.
  • Findings and publications — including the Topline Findings series, the "Exploring public attitudes, informing public policy" series, and special reports on the human values scale and wellbeing.
  • Panel data — data from CRONOS-3, a web-first cross-national probability-based panel collected as part of the Infra4NextGen project, is available. The latest wave of self-completion panel data covers 11 countries.
  • Project data — for example, the ICOS Cities three-wave online panel fielded in Munich and Paris during 2023 and 2024.

How to access the data

Data access has changed: everything now goes through the ESS Data Portal rather than being downloadable directly from the main site. The practical path is:

  1. Go to the ESS website and follow the link to the Data Portal.
  2. Find the round or dataset you need (for example, Round 11 for the most recent full cross-national data).
  3. Download the data together with the accompanying documentation and, where relevant, the post-stratification weights needed for analysis.

The expected result is a dataset you can analyse with the weights and documentation supplied alongside it.

Who it is for

The ESS is aimed at researchers, students, journalists and policy analysts who need comparable survey data across many countries. If your question is about European public opinion, values or behaviour and you need cross-national coverage, the ESS is a strong starting point. If you need only a single country's data, or data on a topic outside the survey's scope, you will likely need another source.

Practical points to keep in mind

  • Check the round and fieldwork dates before comparing results; Round 11 covers 2023/24, and Round 12 data will not appear until early 2027.
  • Use the post-stratification weights provided with the data for representative estimates.
  • Read the Survey Specification if you need to understand or report on how the data were collected.
  • The site also posts news and events, and maintains channels on BlueSky, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter/X and YouTube for updates.