0 Administrative Information about the Statistical Product


0.1 Name
Household and family statistics

0.2 Subject Area
Population and elections

0.3 Responsible Authority, Office, Person, etc.
Population and education
Anna Qvist, Tel.: +45 39 17 33 01, e-mail: aaq@dst.dk

0.4 Purpose and History
These statistics illustrate households, families and also personal characteristics regarding household and family. New concepts and definitions were introduced in 2008 to replace the previously produced household and family statistics. The concepts in the statistics used up to 2007 are not comparable to the present ones. Files on household and family statistics from 1980 to 2007 have a comparability that is satisfatory on most points, but are not comparable to 2008 and onwards.

0.5 Users and Application
Users: Municipalities, regions, ministries, labour market organisations, international organisations, the media, educational institutions, private enterprises and private persons.

Application: Public and private planning purposes, education and public debate.

The basic data from the household and familiy statistics are used in connection with other statistics within the entire area of statistics on persons.

0.6 Sources
The Central Populatiom Register (CPR).

0.7 Legal Authority to Collect Data
Law of Statistics Denmsrk according to announcement no. 599 June 22 2000.

0.8 Response burden
None.

0.9 EU Regulation
None.


1 Contents


1.1 Description of Contents
The statistics on households and families describe the total population living in Denmark. Statistics are produced with three different kinds of units: households, families and persons. The statistics describe these units on household and family-related variables (e.g. type of family, size of familiy, type of household). The basis for the statistics consists solely of CPR data on sex, age, martital status, references to spouses and parents, and address specification. The address data form the basis of the division into households, municipalities and regions.

1.2 Statistical Concepts
1980 - 2007:

Households are defined as address households, i.e. each address at which persons are registered in the Central Population Register constitutes a household which consists of all the persons registered at the address. The group of persons in a household consists of one or more families. A household and a family may consist of a single person.

Families can be divided in three main types. Families consisting of couples, families of single persons and families consisting of a child not living with its parents. For families of couples or single persons the family can include one or more children living with the parent(s).

Children are defined as persons who are under the age of 18, who have never been married, who do not have children by themselves and who are not parts in cohabiting couples (cf. below). If a child has a parent reference number to at least one adult person in the same household, the child is living at home, and if not, the child is a child not living at home.
All persons who are not children are adult persons. Every adult person who is not part of a couple is a single person. There are four types of couples:
1. Married couples. The two persons have spouse reference numbers to each othes.
2. Registered partnerships. The partners refer to each others in the CPR register in the same way as married persons.
3. Consensual unions. The two persons have at least one joint child (in this context the age of the child is immaterial) living in the home, or they had so on 1 January 1990 or 1 January in a subsequent year. If there are no joint children living in the home any longer, the parents must have been living together at all later dates of population status (= 1 January).
4. Cohabiting couples: A cohabiting couple consists of two persons of opposite sex with no joint children, but possibly with separate children. The two persons have an age difference of less than 15 years, they are not from the same family of origin as far as the reference numbers show and there are no other adult persons living at the address. Persons down to the age of 16 can be regarded as cohabiting.

2008 and onwards:

Households are defined as address households, i.e. each address at which persons are registered in the Central Population Register constitutes a household which consists of all the persons registered at the address. The group of persons in a household consists of one or more families. A household and a family may consist of a single person.

Families can be divided in three main types. Families consisting of couples, families of single persons and families consisting of a child not living with its parents. For families of couples or single persons the family can include one or more children living with the parent(s).

Children are defined as persons who are under the age of 18, who have never been married, who do not have children by themselves and who are not parts in cohabiting couples (cf. below). If a child has a parent reference number to at least one adult person in the same household, the child is living at home, and if not the child is a cjild not living at home.

Young persons of 18-24 years who fulfill the conditions for being a child living at home, except for the age condition, are counted as young persons living at home (they may becsalled children living at home. They are included in the parents' families.

All persons who are not children, or young adults living at home, are adult persons. Every adult person who is not part af a couple is a single person. There are four types of couples:
1. Married couples. The two persons have spouse reference numbers to each othes.
2. Registered partnerships. The partners refer to each others in the CPR register in the same way as married persons.
3. Consensual unions. The two persons have at least one joint child (in this context the age of the child is immaterial) living in the home, or they had so on 1 January 1990 or 1 January in a subsequent year. If there are no joint children living in the home any longer, the parents must have been living together at all later dates of population status (= 1 January).
4. Cohabiting couples: A cohabiting couple consists of two persons of opposite sex with no joint children, but possibly with separate children. The two persons have an age difference of less than 15 years, they are not from the same family of origin as far as the reference numbers show and there are no other adult persons living at the address. Persons down to the age of 16 can be regarded as cohabiting.

Variables:
The following variables can be attached to persons:
Sex, age, marital status, municipality and region, type of family, status in family, type of household, number of persons in the family, number of adult persons and of children in the family and household, and information on whether the person lives in the same household as his/her father and/or mother.

The following variables can be attached to families:
Municipality and region, type of family, number of persons, adult persons and children in the family.

The following variables can be attached to households:
Municipality and region, type of household, number of persons, of adult persons, of children living in parental home,

Classifications:
In the tables which are published annually the most important classifications for persons are: sex, age, type of family, the person's status in the familiy, number of children in the family, municipality and, for children, information on which of the parents the child lives with. For families the most frequently used classifications concern family type and size, number of children, municipality and region.

Statistical measures:
The statistical measures can averages for the numbers of persons of the different kinds, e.g. average number of children in families with children be calculated. A comprehensive description of the methods in Danish can be found in Population and Elections (Statistical News (Statistiske Efterretninger)). A shorter description in English can be found in the annual publication Vital Statistics (Befolkningens Udvikling).


2 Time


2.1 Reference Period
The reference time is 1 January each year. The population consists of all the persons who on this date are registered in the CPR register as living in an addres in Denmark. Data extracted from the CPR register are received immediately after this. Afterwards, revisions of the data are undertaken according to events which have taken place before 1 January, but which have been registered during the first 30 days of the new year. These events are reported on continoiusly to Statistics Denmark and include among other things live births, deaths, immigrations and emigrations, changes of address, marriages and divorces and corresponding events concerning registered partnerships, ect.

2.2 Date of Publication
The statistics are published annually and are prepared on the basis of population status in 1 January. The first part of the statistics is released before two months after the time of reference (1 January each year).

2.3 Punctuality
The first publication takes place in News from Statistics Denmark (Nyt fra Danmarks Statistik) and in the data-bases before the end of February. In Population and Elections (Statistical News (Statistiske Efterretninger)) the statistics are published in the first half of March.

2.4 Frequency
Annually.


3 Accuracy


3.1 Overall accuracy
The Central Population Register (CPR) is an administrative register with very wide scope of application. The quality of the information is usualy very high.

3.2 Sources of inaccuracy
It is very important for the basic information of the statistics that the address information is reliable. The statistics are influenced by the extent to which the population is not registered in the CPR register at real addresses. No estimates are made of the scale of this problem, and it is not possible to make corrections for this.

A second source of unreliability is the group of persons without permanent addresses. They are registered at certain special municipal addresses that are of a fictitious nature and which are administered by the local population registers. They are reserved for persons who, for one reason or another, cannot be registered at a permanent address. They include homeless people, seamen, posted diplomats and certain other groups of people working abroad for Danish authorities or organisations.

A third source of unreability is institutional households (e.g. old-age nursing homes) whoes residents are often registered at individual addresses.

3.3 Measures on accuracy
No reliable estimate is available concerning the scale of incorrect og missing addresses.


4 Comparability


4.1 Comparability over Time
For the years 1980-2007, statistical registers have been created on the basis of roughly identical principles, so that good comparability can be obtained for these years. An exception to this is the fact that for the 1980s no statistics are available on the numbers of consensual unions and cohabiting couples separately, but only figures for the two groups put together. This is attributable to insufficient coverage of the parent reference numbers in the 1980's. It is the parent reference numbers for the child that decide wether an unmarried couple constitutes a consensual union or a cohabiting couple. Household and family statistics cannot be compared with the corresponding statistics for the years before 1980 or with results from censuses.

4.2 Comparability with other Statistics
The concept of household in the statistics on households and families differs from the household concept applied in the statistics on buildings and dwellings which is based on the concept of dwelling household, and from the concept applied in the survey on consumption expenditure of households which is based on interviews with a relatively small number of households. This is the household concept that comes closest to the recommendations of UN is the "food household", the concept of household being based on the arrangements made by persons, individually or in groups, for providing themselves with food or other essentials for living. However, it involves questionnaires, and is therefore incompatible with register-based statistics with total coverage.

Definitions and delimitations of families vary considerably internationally. Comparability with statistics on families from other countries, therefore, cannot be expected.

4.3 Coherence between provisional and final statistics
As for all other statistics produced on the basis of the population on 1 January (population status), no revision of the household and family statistics is made sunsequently.


5 Accessibility


5.1 Forms of dissemination
News from Statistics Denmark (Nyt fra Danmarks Statistik), Population and Elections (Statistical News (Statistiske Efterretninger)), StatBank Denmark (Danmarks Statistikbank). Statistical Yearbook, Statistical 10-year Rewiew, the annual publication Vital Statistics (Befolkningen Udvikling).

5.2 Basic material: Storage and usability
The Annual register on household and family statistics are updated as part of the Population Statistics Register. They can be used for more detailled tabulations than those published, also in combination with data from other types of statistics.

The following variables can be used in connection with households:
Municipality
Type of household
umber of adult persons in the household
Number of children in the household

The following variables can be used in connection with families:
Type of family
Municipality
Number of persons in the family
Number of adult persons in the family
Number of children in the family

The following variables can be used in connection with persons:
Marital status
Municipality
Sex
Age
Status within the family
Type of family
Type of household

5.3 Documentation
Documentation is available in TIMES.

5.4 Other Information
A detailed description of the method can be found in Population and Elections in Statistical News (Statistiske Efterretninger).


Supplementary documentation
No supplementary documentation is available