Overview and Comparison of 84 Databases with Historical Population Longitudinal Micro Data

In the last 65 years several major historical databases with reconstructed life courses of large populations have been launched. Around 1990, we could find two important types of databases with longitudinal micro-data. The first type were event databases aimed on family reconstructions and usually based on baptism, marriage and funeral registers or on civil certificates introduced after 1800. The second type were databases with life courses: persons are observed on a more permanent basis using church examination or population registers. After 1990 a third type, databases with census data, really took off. In first instance in the form of samples, in second instance by entering full count samples which makes it possible to link the several censuses into one system, creating semi-longitudinal databases. Another development was the growth of special purpose samples into semi-longitudinal ones by following sampled persons from one source during their life course through linking with all kind of other sources. The development of these databases is indicative of considerable investments that have greatly expanded the possibilities for new research within the fields of history, demography, sociology, as well as other disciplines. In this paper I will compare 84 of these databases on several key figures like included sources, year of foundation, period of observation, area of observation, sample fraction and number of included observations, families and unique persons. An overview of all databases with all key figures is presented in the Appendix.