A source of fun and useful knowledge
Did you know that in 2009 the average age for all Danish women who gave birth were
30.5 years of age? Or that Lucas and Emma were the most popular names for children
born in the first half of 2008? Or that an average family each month spend about
DKK 300 on vegetables?
By examining the Statistical Yearbook you will discover that it is a source
of lots of useful and interesting information that only exists as a whole in this
book.
You can search for peculiar and funny information like the information in the board
game Trivial Pursuit, but you can also find knowledge that describes the serious
aspects of the Danish society.
For those with no experience in statistics ...
The Statistical Yearbook contains hundreds of thousands of figures, and because
figures themselves does not reveal everything we have written more than 130 pages
of text and spiced them with almost 200 graphs.
... and for the experienced user
The yearbook is the largest collection of statistics that Statistics Denmark publishes
in book-form, and there are just about 500 tables in the Statistical Yearbook.
Annually published since 1896
The Statistical Yearbook has been published annually since 1896. Leafing through
the yearbook, the reader is introduced to parts of Danish history. From the first
volume of the yearbook and onwards, the reader becomes aware of the existence of
stories at different levels, each testifying to the great number of changes in Danish
society and Danish language.
At present, it is only a selection of yearbooks that can be downloaded, but they
will be available on the Internet as soon as they are scanned. Visitors to Statistics
Denmark's library (Sankt Kjelds Plads 11, 2100 København Ø) will be
able to read and study all yearbooks of the past years.
A story about the developments in society
For each volume of the Statistical Yearbook, statistics on, e.g. population size,
geographic distribution and a great number of other statistics are updated. Thereby,
the reader is able to keep up with the developments in society year by year, e.g.
population pyramids, number of births and deaths, unemployment, public expenditure,
etc.
Some tables are gradually omitted, if they are no longer of any importance to society,
or because financial resources are not allocated for their upkeep.
Other tables are extended to include more categories or separate tables. Examples
are income statistics, where the present yearbooks now include considerably larger
and longer tables on income distributed by age, occupation, etc.
Other tables are reduced with regard to their size or number. For example, tables
on Danish agriculture take up slowly, but with absolute certainty, less space in
the yearbook, while statistics on the tertiary sector (trade and services, ICT,
transport, etc.) gradually take up more and more space.
New tendencies are reflected by new tables
New tables are also continuously being introduced as a reaction to the tendencies
in society. Year by year, it is only a small number of tables that are introduced,
but over a great number of years, they give a clear picture of the developments
in society. Below, examples of new tables, which are of historical interest to society,
are mentioned:
In the Statistical Yearbook 1909 automobiles are becoming so widespread on the Danish
roads, resulting in the construction of a table showing the number of motor vehicles.
Two decades later (in the Statistical Yearbook 1933) traffic accidents caused by,
among others, cars became so widespread that a table showing traffic accidents was
constructed and included in the yearbook.
In more recent years, pollution caused by cars has become a subject in the yearbook,
which is also true of pollution caused by agriculture, shipping, etc.
At the beginning of the history of the yearbook, the trade union movements are becoming
popular, and this is reflected by new tables in the yearbook showing the number
of trade union members and work stoppages. Today, data for the tables are still
compiled.
Later, this area was supplemented by statistics on industrial injuries, absence
due to sickness, atypical working hours, working time accounts, and other statistics
relating to working conditions.
During the Second World War, it is of current interest to focus attention on ration
cards. A table on this subject is included in the yearbook until 1952. There are
also statistics on US Marshall aid until 1954.
It was perhaps due to the occasional shortage of foods that a table showing the
average calorie intake of Danes in 1947 was constructed. However, the compilation
of data for this table was short-lived.
Statistics on radio and TV gradually appear and are extended, concurrently with
the media becoming more widespread. An example of a new statistical area is ICT
statistics.
The Statistical Yearbook comprises figures on usage of ICT and the Internet by businesses
and citizens. There is also information on families possessing, e.g. DVD recorders
and MP3 players, etc.