Stephan Sievert was born in Hamburg, Germany, on March 1, 1982. He obtained a BA degree in European Studies from Maastricht University, followed by an MSc in International Economics (with a major in social economics) from the same institution. His main areas of study were labour economics, social security, and applied econometrics. During his degree course, he spent a semester at Pontificia Universidad Católica in Santiago de Chile.

From 2007 to 2008, Sievert worked as a consultant to the World Bank in Washington DC and Gassmann Consulting of Maastricht, advising them on social protection and poverty reduction strategies in Kyrgyzstan. Since October 2008, he has been employed as a research associate at the Berlin Institute, where his work revolves around the demographic and economic situations in eastern Europe, Germany, France, and the Republics of the former Soviet Union.