Censuses provide population numbers, household or family size and composition, and information on sex and age distribution. They often include other demographic, economic and health-related topics as well. The 1970 West Germany de jure census collected data through self-enumeration on subjects of housing, household demographics, education, and employment. The majority of the population was enumerated with a short form questionnaire and 10% completed the long form questionnaire. The census day was May 27, 1970.

A 5% sample of individuals from the census (3,094,845 individuals) is available through IPUMS International at the University of Minnesota. Though the sample represents 5% of the population, it is drawn from the 10% sample that answered the long form questionnaire. Dwellings, households, and vacant units are not identified in the microdata sample. Persons are not organized into households. Refer to the IPUMS website for guidelines on citing database versions.