Statistics of children

 Select from table (BRN11)



 Related tables in the StatBank


Purpose and history
History: In 1996, the Danish Ministry of Social Affairs requested that Statistics Denmark construct a system that could throw light on living conditions for children. Work on the system commenced in July 1996 and the first edition, which covered the years from 1980 to 1996, was ready in June 1997. Since then the database has been updated every year. In June it normally contains information up to 1 January the same year.

Purpose: As mentioned above, the purpose of the database is to throw light on the living conditions for children. The database on children can improve the basis for performing research projects.
Children's living conditions are widely dependent on the social conditions of the adult breadwinner(s), e.g. education, income and employment. Until 1996, the statistics had not related these items of information to the children in question. In the database on children this information is referable to the children. The database thus forms the basis for undertaking new statistical analyses with the child as the unit of enumeration.

Description of Contents
Population conditions 1980 - actual year
Immigrations and emigrations
Information on each period a person has been resident in Denmark
Citizenship
Citizenship code
Immigrant/descendant
Information on whether the person immigrated to Denmark or was born by immigrant parents
Cause and date of death


Family circumstances
1980 - actual year
Parents
Reference to biological parents or adopted parents
Family
Reference to the family
Family type
The family consists of one adult or two cohabiting adults, with children under 18 years of age living at home, where applicable.



Education
1980 - actual year -2
Highest level of education
Information on the highest level of education for the person, with year of completion. At family level, educational attainment is given for the adult person in the family who has the highest level of education.
Movements through the education system
Time of commencement and completion of education (main groups). This information is only available at personal level.



Social benefits
1984 - actual year -1
Number of days per year with the following benefits:
Sickness benefits
Unemployment benefits
Cash benefits
Temporary social benefits, total
Maternity leave
Early retirement benefits
Early retirement pension
Old-age pension
The database provides information on each type of benefits per person per year, whether the person has received the benefits for one quarter, two quarters, three quarters or more than three quarters. At family level, an average of the number of days for adult persons in the family will be estimated. The data are then grouped according to intervals of one quarter of a year, corresponding to the grouping at personal level.



Employment
1980 - actual year -2
Occupation
The occupation (socio-economic group) which is the most dominant for the person on an annual basis. At family level, occupational group is selected for the adult in the family who has the highest income during the year. From 1995 a new classification is used.
Degree of unemployment per year
Information on annual degree of unemployment is entered in the database, converted to 20 per cent intervals for each person affected by unemployment. At family level, an average degree of unemployment for adults who are in the labour force will be compiled. The family is then grouped to a 20 per cent interval.
Industry
For employed persons industry by main groups. At family level, industry is selected for the person who has the highest income during the year.
Full-time/part-time labour-market status
The information is given for persons in the labour force. At family level a combination of the labour market status of adults will be compiled.


Income and wealth
1980 - actual year -2
Gross income including cash benefits
Each person is grouped in a decile group on the basis of the entire population's income during the year. The computation is effected at personal as well as family level. At family level, an equivalence computation prior to the computation of deciles is effected, where the sum of the family's gross incomes is converted into an average per person in the family. The persons are weighted as follows: 1 for the principal person, 0.7 for second adult, if any, and 0.5 for each child.
Main source of income
Calculated as the main group of the person's primary and transfer incomes, which contributes with the highest amount to the total income. For the family, the source which contributess with the highest amount to the total family income is selected.
Transfer income
At personal and family level the share which the transfer income makes up of the total gross income on an annual basis is calculated. This information is entered in the database according to groups. This implies that it is stated whether the share is zero, up to 25 per cent, 50 per cent, 75 per cent or over 75 per cent.
Wealth
Each person is grouped in a decile group on the basis of the entire population's wealth during the year. At family level an equivalence computation is first effected, similar to that mentioned under gross income. Only up to 1995.



Housing
1980 - actual year
Location (address)
Address code as of 1 January each year.
Ownership and type
Information on ownership (e.g. owner-occupied, rented accommodation and type of dwelling).
Size
Square metres (grouped according to intervals) per person in the family.
Number of rooms and estimated number of rooms per person in the family.


Hospitalisations
1980 - actual year -2
For every admission the register stores information on:
Code for hospital and hospital department to which the admission took place
Dates of admission and discharge
Type of hospitalisation (emergency or non-emergency)
Code for cause of admission
In cases where the admission results from an accident the register contains information on the circumstances in which the accident happened
Main diagnosis grouped according to the 23 grouping and the S-list
Duration of the admission

Statistical Concepts
Annual and status information used for longitudinal analyses.
Data are entered as annual information. Some data relate to the year as a whole, e.g. data on social benefits, employment and income. Other data are status information, frequently as of 1 January, e.g. information on family circumstances and housing conditions. This implies that longitudinal analyses can only cover changes on an annual basis, or changes in the various states as of 1 January. For example, statistics on how many times a child changed domicile throughout the first 10 years of his life will be counted as the number of times the child's address as of 1 January changed from one year to the next over the 10-year period. Consequently, no more than one change of address per year per person is entered. This results in a slight understatement of the total number of changes of address, but it is generally considered that the data provide a completely adequate basis for compiling statistics and undertaking analyses.

Definition of change of family
Information on family circumstances and change of family is, of course, essential in monitoring children's living conditions. The family definition used in the register of children is similar to that used in the current family statistics compiled by Statistics Denmark, see definition in Appendix 1, and the same definition has been used over the entire period. However, there are no fixed standards for compiling statistics relating to changes of family. In the register of children it is considered that a change of family has occurred when there is a change of person among the adults in the family. Change of family is compiled by comparing each individual family's composition as of 1 January from one year to another, implying that no more than one change of family can be recorded per year per person. The method is considered to provide a completely adequate basis for compiling statistics and undertaking analyses.

Possibilities of compiling statistics
The database structure of the register of children makes it possible to compile longitudinal and cross-sectional statistics for selected sub-populations in a comparatively easy way.

  Read more about the statistics on 'The population 1. January, the movements and the population in the municipalities and regions' in our Declarations of contents

Releases

Last updated:	2 April 2009
Scheduled releases:	11 June 2010 for the period 2010

Contact

Anne Nærvig Petersen
Telephone:	+ 45 39 17 36 19
Email: