0 Administrative Information about the Statistical Product


0.1 Name
Social pensions

0.2 Subject Area
Social conditions, health and justice

0.3 Responsible Authority, Office, Person, etc.
Social and health
Yvonne Nielsen, tel. +45 39 17 36 18, e-mail: yvn@dst.dk
Steffen Hougaard, tel. +45 39 17 31 09, e-mail: sho@dst.dk

0.4 Purpose and History
The purpose of the statistics is to show the number of recipients of old age and early retirement pensions distributed by the number of recipients of old age pension, early retirement pension and disability disbursement as well as the amounts disbursed yearly. Until 1977, the statistics of social pensions have been compiled according to the financial year, which was from March to March. In the following years the calendar year was used. The social pensions statistics have been compiled since 1970. From 1983 the statistics were based on Statistics Denmark's pension statistics register and are compiled in accordance with the current legislation.

1 January 1984 the legislative changes meant that some groups of pensioners were classified as recipients of early retirement pension. In connection with these changes, disability pension and pensions for widows as well as allocation of spouse supplements ceased to exist as such. In the next legislative change as of 1 October 1984 the concept disability pension ceased to exist, since all pensioners below the age of 67 were named early retirement pensioners.

After the previous legislation (before 1 January 1984) all single women were entitled to old age pension as of their 62nd year. Furthermore, men as well as women in certain situations were entitled to early old age pension from their 55th year. These groups of pensioners were as of 1 January 1984 entitled to early retirement pension.

As of 1 January 1989 there was a pilot scheme attempting to disburse pensions to residents in nursing homes instead of just disbursing pocket money. Act no. 1132 of 22 December 1993 introduced as of 1 January 1995 disbursed pension to all pensioners regardless of their type of residence. This means that the concept "cash pension" ceased to exist.

From the year 1987 and until 1990, the basis of the statistics was extended with figures regarding recipients of early retirement pay and civil servants' pensions. These figures were published in Statistical News in the series Statisticals News 1992 for the years 1984-1990.

1 January 1992 the decision of allocating ordinary early retirement pension has been transferred to each municipality and changes in the structure of administration was carried out, cf Act no. 399 of 6 June 1991.

As of the year 1993, the statistics were extended with figures regarding persons with Danish pension, but residing abroad, as well as the number of foreign citizens residing permanently in Denmark and receiving Danish pension.

1 January 1994 the social pensions were disbursed as gross pensions, i.e. they were subjected to income taxation. In connection with grossing the pensions, the basic amount was reduced, whereas the pension supplement was increased substantially.

1 January 1994 a pension supplement to "truly single pensioners" was introduced. The amount was allocated as a compensation for the increased person tax discount, which ceased to exist with the new tax reform.

1 January 1995 the special pension supplement was specified in two supplements: pension supplement, truly single supplement and a special pension supplement, which ceased to exist in 1999.

From the year 1995 a manual reporting of pensioners resident in nursing homes ceased.

From 1 January 1995 the Ministry of Social Affairs administers all pension disbursements to pensioners residing abroad. The changes entail, that it is no longer possible to distinguish between persons, who are only receiving a Danish pension and persons who receive both a Danish pension and an EU pension.

From the year 1999 and forwards are figures for social pensions published in Statistical News in the series Social conditions, health and justice: 1999:5, 2000:13, 2001:14, 2002:11, 2003:10, 2004:11, 2005:13, 2006:13, 2007:15, 2008:13 og 2009:11.

On 1 January 2003, a new act on early retirement pension, which supplements previous legislation, came into force. All persons who, prior to this date, have applied for or are entitled to claim early retirement pension, are subjected to the previous legislation, also in the case of applications for an increase in the level of early retirement pension. Applicants after this date are subjected to the new act on early retirement pension. Several levels of early retirement pension are no longer distinguished in the new legislation. The rate of pension is estimated on the basis of the highest rate of sickness pay that has been claimed. The rate is estimated differently for single early retirement pensioners and cohabiting early retirement pensioners.

On 1 July 2004, a new act on old-age pension came into force. Persons, who were born before dateYear1939Day1Month71 July 1939, are entitled to claim old-age pension from the age of 67. Persons, who were born on dateYear1939Day1Month71 July 1939 or later, are entitled to claim old-age pension from the age of 65. The new act makes it possible for persons, who are entitled to claim old-age pension, to defer their pension up to 10 years, which is known as deferred pension. However, the pension cannot be deferred for more than 2 periods.

The latesst legislation is
The Ministry of Social Welfare act no. 484 of 29. maj 2007 and act no. 446 of 9. juni 2008 of recipient af old age and early retirement pensions.

0.5 Users and Application
Users

• Ministry of Social Affairs
• Ministry of Finance
• The Law Model
• The National Association of Local Authorities in Denmark
• Municipalities
• Researchers, other
• Organisations
• The Media

Fields of use

• Internal purposes in Statistics Denmark: Linkage with other statistical fields
• Data banks (KÅS: Municipal Yearly Service, stopped by the year 2006)
• Budget planning in the municipalities and The National Association of Local Authorities in Denmark
• In evaluating the Act on social pensions (Ministry of Social Affairs)
• StatBank Denmark

0.6 Sources
The source is the social pensions register of The Danish Local Government Computing Centre ( incl. the municipality of Copenhagen).

0.7 Legal Authority to Collect Data
Section 6 of the Act on Statistics Denmark, cf Act no. 599 of 22 June 2000.

0.8 Response burden
There is no response burden as the data are collected via the register on social pensions from The Danish Local Government Computing Centre (KMD).

0.9 EU Regulation
Is irrelevant to the statistics.


1 Contents


1.1 Description of Contents
The social pensions statistics comprise all those persons who receive a social pension in January, i.e. recipients of old age pension aged 67 years and above ( from 2004 65 years and above) as well as recipients of early retirement pension and disability disbursement aged 18-66 years (from 2004 64 year). The statistics are compiled according to age, sex, type of pension, marital status, residents in nursing homes (stopped published by the year 2009), county and municipality distribution and the amounts disbursed.

A yearly register is compiled as of the year 1984 and comprises all persons who have received a social pension in at least one month of the year.

From 2007, figures on pension are published for the new municipalities, regions and provinces, due to the new structural reform of the Danish municipalities.

1.2 Statistical Concepts
Units
The units in the statistics are the individual persons.

Population
The geographical classification in the statistic is municipalities or counties. Pensioners, measured as stock, are distributed by sex, type of pension, age, marital status and municipality of domicile. Furthermore, the number of pensioners are distributed by country of residence and citizenship: The tables show the number of persons with Danish pension but with permanent residence abroad, as well as the number of foreign citizens with permanent residence in Denmark, who receive a Danish pension (stopped published by the year 2008).

Variables
Together, the person number and the municipality code identify the case.

Statistical target groups
Number of persons who receive social pension, total stock.

Groups
We distinguish between the following types of pension:

• Old age pension
• Highest early retirement pension
• Intermediate early retirement pension
• Increased ordinary early retirement pension
• Ordinary retirement pension
• Disability disbursement
• New scheme for early retirement pension (from january 2004)

Other groups:
Sex, age, marital status, counties* and municipalities*.

*From 2007, figures on pension are published for the new municipalities, regions and provinces, due to the new structural reform of the Danish municipalities.


2 Time


2.1 Reference Period
The reference period is the month of January every year.

2.2 Date of Publication
The statistics are published yearly, but only for the month of January.

2.3 Punctuality
The statistics are usually published whitout delay in relation to the scheduled date.

2.4 Frequency
The frequency is yearly but only for the month of January.


3 Accuracy


3.1 Overall accuracy
The overall reliability is high, since all information is obtained from a register with full coverage. The data material is subjected to data editing, which is mostly computerised, but also with some manual data cleaning. In cases where Statistics Denmark's figures differ from those of the municipalities, it is possible for the municipalities to inform Statistics Denmark.

3.2 Sources of inaccuracy
Coverage
All recipients of social pensions according to the legislation are included.
All municipalities are included.

Quality of variables
As a result of negligent reporting regarding pensioners residing in nursing homes, Statistics Denmark has linked the social pension register with Statistics Denmark's register of institutions up to the year 1997. As a result of a changed data basis as regards stays in nursing homes etc. the data regarding the year 1998 and onwards, are more reliable. As a result linkage with the register of institutions will cease (stopped published by the year 2009).

3.3 Measures on accuracy
The statistical uncertainly is not calculated, but the uncertainly is negligible.


4 Comparability


4.1 Comparability over Time
The comparability is good from the year 1970 to 1983, and from 1984 and onwards. The figures before and after 1984 are not strictly comparable.

The pension legislation was changed from January 1984, cf 0.4 Purpose and History.

The increase in total expenditure for social pensions from 1993-1994 was primarily caused by pensioners residing abroad (receiving Danish pension and EU pension). These figures were not part of the compilation before 1994, which means that the figures are not strictly comparable.

From January 1994 the pension disbursements were grossed, which means that they were subjected to income taxation. Consequently, the figures are not strictly comparable before and after January 1994.

4.2 Comparability with other Statistics
The register contains person numbers, which makes it possible to make linkages and thus make comparisons with other statistics.

Comparable statistics are not available, but in the population statistics figures are available for persons aged 67/65 years. Likeweise, the statistics on Coherent Social Statistics has figures for the number of recipients by old age- and early retirement pension. This article will no longer be published but figures are published in the article Persons who ar not in ordinary employment in the series Labour market.

4.3 Coherence between provisional and final statistics
Only final figures are published.


5 Accessibility


5.1 Forms of dissemination
The statistics on social pensions are published in:

• News from Statistics Denmark
• Statistical News appearing in the series Social conditions, health and justice (stopped in 2009).
• Social Statistics appearing in the series Statistical Service (stopped in 2006).

Yearly publications: Statistical Yearbook, Statistical Ten-Year Review, KÅS Social (distributed by municipalities etc. stopped published from the year 2006) and Social Protection in the Nordic Countries published by NOSOSCO.

StatBank (www.statistikbanken.dk) where the following matrixes are:

• Pen11: Recipients of old age- and early retirement pensions by region, kind of pension, age and sex (2007-2010)
• Pen22: Old age- and early retirement pension payment in 1000 DKK by region, kind of pension, type of amount, materiel status and sex, pr. january (2007-2010)
• Pen33: Recipients of old age- and early retirement pension by region, kind of pension, type of amount, materiel status and sex, pr. january (2007-2010)

5.2 Basic material: Storage and usability
The primary data contain a data set for January of each year with basic information, which is kept for five years by Statistics Denmark. The data sets are then passed on to The Danish National Archives. This procedure has been followed since the register of social pensions was established in 1983.

5.3 Documentation
The statistics of Social pensions are documentated in Statistics Denmark's newest electronic data processing tools.

5.4 Other Information
At The Ministry of Social Affairs web site (www.ism.dk) all current legislation about social pension can be found.


Supplementary documentation
No supplementary documentation is available