Statistics Denmark

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Statistics Denmark (Danish: Danmarks Statistik) is a Danish governmental organization under the Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs. The organization is responsible for creating statistics on the Danish society, for example employment statistics, trade balance, and demographics.

Statistics Denmark is internationally recognized for its large use of public registers in the statistical production. Population censuses are produced entirely from registers since 1981.

The institution is compared to the population rather small (570 employees). A large part of the turnover comprises revenue from users (2005: 27 %).

Denmark is a leading country in the world regarding electronic dissemination of statistics. The very large database StatBank Denmark in English is available free-of-charge for all users on the Internet. It is updated every day 9.30 am (CET) and contains all new statistics in a very detailed form. The statistics can be presented as cross-tables, diagrams or maps. The output can be transferred to other programs for further compilation. There is also a Danish version.

Contents 1 Role of Statistics Denmark 2 Centralised production of statistics 3 Independence: The cornerstone of statistics 4 Access to data is secured under the Act 5 Confidentiality 6 Growing need for statistical information 7 Publications 8 Internet 9 Data banks 10 Customised service projects 11 International Co-operation 12 Technical co-operation 13 External links

Role of Statistics Denmark

Statistics Denmark plays a vital role in providing the prerequisites for a healthy democracy and economy. The role of providing essential information to politicians, other decision-makers, the general public, scholars etc. requires both the will and the ability, as an institution, to adapt and change. Such flexibility is imperative if we are to keep abreast of the constant changes in the society we strive to describe. We have to respond to changes not only in terms of the supply of statistical information, but also in terms of the demands made on us by our users. Over the last few years we have laid great emphasis on developing and enhancing our services in order to meet our users' demands. To achieve the overall goal of providing our users with top-quality products and excellent services an overall management strategy has been developed for the years to come, which clearly defines the management strategy as goal and result-oriented.

Centralised production of statistics

In comparison with many other countries the production of statistics in Denmark is highly centralised. Statistics Denmark is responsible for ensuring that the overall statistical picture is complete and coherent regardless of the source. The main office is located in Copenhagen and this is where almost all of the 550 people employed by Statistics Denmark work.

Independence: The cornerstone of statistics

The Act on Statistics Denmark gives an independent Board of Directors the responsibility to determine the institution’s work programme, thus allowing Statistics Denmark to operate independently of Government control.

Access to data is secured under the Act

The Act on Statistics Denmark grants access to the basic data necessary to produce the statistics. The Act states that public authorities must supply the information they possess when requested to do so by Statistics Denmark. Decisions on this must be settled by the Board. The private sector is also obliged to supply certain information for statistical purposes. It can be mentioned that the last population census was conducted in 1970. Censuses are now exclusively based on administrative registers private citizens now only partici-pate in surveys on a voluntary basis. In accordance with these principles, Statistics Denmark has striven to develop a statistical system which is almost entirely based on the administrative registers of other public offices. Other collection methods are employed where necessary, but are only regarded as a supplement.

Confidentiality

It is a basic principle that all information on individual persons and business units be treated in strict confidentiality. Only aggregated figures may be passed on to users and the basic information collected by Statistics Denmark is protected by strong data security measures.

Growing need for statistical information

In Statistics Denmark the dissemination and presentation of statistics have assumed an increasingly important role over the years. Part of the reason is society’s growing need for statistics, but the increased focus on information activities also reflects Statistics Denmark’s intensified efforts to provide statistical data for a wide variety of user needs. The dissemination of statistical information takes place through many different channels.

Publications

Publications still constitute a major part of our dissemination policy. The general public are first made aware of new statistics - via the press - by News from Statistics Denmark which can also be downloaded from our Internet homepage. The publication of this medium is also a signal that more detailed statistical information is available.

Internet

Statistics Denmark is on the Internet with a homepage containing information about Statistics Denmark and our products. It also contains a number of our publications - all our publications can be ordered via the Internet. The Internet is gradually becoming the main channel for the dissemination of statistics.

Data banks

Statistics Denmark’s hugh electronic data bank (Statbank.dk) is available free-of-charge in Danish or English for any user. It includes almost all statistics produced in-house. When new general statistics are published in News from Statistics Denmark, the same data are made available at the same time from the data bank but in a far more detailed form.

Customised service projects

Since the collected data normally offers opportunities to make other combinations and distributions than those published or provided through standard assignments, Statistics Denmark also undertakes special customised projects

International Co-operation

Statistics Denmark actively participates in international statistical activities. Co-operation within the framework of the European Union is particularly important and Denmark takes part in the joint European statistical programme.

Binding agreements: As a member of the EU Denmark participates in a binding agreement on the compilation, preparation and dissemination of statistics. The impact made on Statistics Denmark by the requirements of the European Statistical System is considerable. Although the requirements on statistical output coincide, to a certain extent, with Denmark’s national needs, considerable resources are devoted to the fulfilment of Danish obligations.

Other international cooperation: Statistics Denmark is also actively involved in Nordic and other international statistical co-operation, such as the UN Conference of European Statisticians (CES) and statistical co-operation with the OECD, ILO etc.

Technical co-operation

The international community is an increasingly important user group. Statistics Denmark has an International Consulting division, which co-ordinates technical co-operation. This unit initially focused its activities on transition countries in Central and Eastern Europe, but has gradually widened both the scope of its activities and the range of countries with which it is involved.

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