Statistical presentation

Data description

The income statistics are based on annual incomes. Income statistics are presented at both the personal- and the family level. The income register contains more than 100 types of income of which the 40 most important are presented in The Statbank.

In addition to measuring the level of income there is also focus on income distribution. This includes indicators such as decile distributions, Risk of Poverty and the Gini-coefficient which are measured using the equivalised disposable income.

Classification system

The personal income statistics are primarily grouped by: Type of income, municipality, socio-economic status, gender, age and education. Pre-tax total income and disposable income is furthermore divided into income intervals.

The family income statistics are furthermore divisible by type of family, socio-economic status for the main breadwinner, highest attained education within the family, and home ownership.

Sector coverage

Not relevant for these statistics.

Statistical concepts and definitions

Disposable income: Disposable income is the amount of money that a person or household has available for spending and saving after income taxes and interest expenses have been accounted for.

Pre-tax income, total: Pre-tax income is the sum of primary income, public transfer incomes, private pensions, property income and other personal income.

Primary income: Primary income includes wages and salaries, entrepreneurial income and received fees subject to labour market contributions.

Public transfer incomes: Public transfer incomes includes disability and old age pensions, early retirement pay, unemployment and cash benefits, public educational grants, housing benefits, child benefits and green check.

Private pensions: In the income statistics private pensions includes public servants pension, pension from the ATP (Labour Market Supplementary Pension Scheme) and Labour market and private pensions (Annuities only).

Property income: Property income (gross) refers to profit or income received by virtue of owning property. It includes received interests and other property income (From stocks etc.). When comparing consumer spending power between home owners and tenants imputed rent and interest expenses should be included in property income (= Property income (gross) + Imputed rent - Interest expenses).

Imputed rent: Imputed rent is a computed value that shows how much a home owner in theory should pay to rent a corresponding dwelling. Imputed rent is included in disposable income to ensure comparability in consumer spending power between home owners and tenants.

Tax, total: Tax (total) includes income taxes and labour market contributions.

Equivalised Income: Equivalised disposable income is mainly used for calculation on the income distribution. The purpose of equivalising the income is to ensure comparability between the income for a person living alone, with that of a large family. The equivalised income should be interpreted as the amount a one-person family should have in order to obtain the same possibilities of consumption as a large family. The assumption is made that income is perfectly redistributed within the family, so that all family members receive the same equivalised income. The OECD modifed-scale is used for equivalisation. The first adult is assigned a weight of 1, the subsequent adults over 14 years old has the weight of 0.5 and children 0.3. Thus the Equivalised disposable income for all family members in a family of 2 adults and 2 children with a total disposable income of 400.000 DKK is 400.000/(1+0.5+0.3+0.3)= 190.476 DKK.

Socio-economic status: The main source of income and/or labor market status for the year.

Low income: Low income is an indicator that measures the number of people living in families with a total income that is lower than 50 or 60 percent of the median income. It is a group with an income that is significantly lower than the standard in the Danish society. The measure is almost similar to Eurostat's term Risk of Poverty and OECD's Poverty.

Decile groups and deciles: The population is sorted according to its income and then divided into 10 equally large groups. The first decile group is the 10 percent with the lowest income. The 10th decile group is the 10 per cent with the highest income. The deciles are the values separating each of the decile groups.

P90/10: P90/10 measures the economic difference between low and high income families. This indicator is not affected by individuals with extreme income like many other inequality measures. This makes P90/10 a good indicator of inequality over time and in small populations, e.g. in the Municipalities. P90/10 is the upper decile divided by the lower decile.

S80/20: S80/20 is an indicator of inequality based on the mean income in the decile groups. S80/20 is the total income of the 20 per cent with the highest income divided by the total income of the 20 per cent with the lowest income. This measure is affected by individuals with extreme income.

Gini coefficient: The Gini coefficient is one of the world's most commonly used measures of inequality. With a single number it states the degree of inequality in an income distribution. The Gini coefficient is a number between 0 and 100. The closer Gini is to 0, the more equal the income distribution.

The Hoover index: The Hoover index is an indicator of inequality. It is equal to the share of the total income in the society that would have to be redistributed from people with incomes above the mean to people with incomes below the mean, in order to reach income uniformity. The higher the Hoover index, the more unequal the income distribution.

Age: Age on the 31st of December of the income year.

Region/Municipality: Residence 31st of December of the income year.

Statistical unit

• Persons living in Denmark.
• Families living in Denmark.

Statistical population

The following populations are used in publications:

Persons: All that are at least 15 years old by the 31st of December and have had a registered address in Denmark for the entire year. Thus the statistics do not include people migrating in and out of the country nor the people who died during the year.

Families: The family is defined on the 31st of December. Only families with at least one person over the age of 15, who has been registered to live in Denmark the entire year, is included.

Distribution of income: Persons in families on the 31st of December. Only persons living in families with at least one person over the age of 15, who has been registered to live in Denmark the entire year, are included.

Reference area

Denmark.

Time coverage

The current Statistics cover the period from 1987.

Base period

Not relevant for this statistics.

Unit of measure

• Number of persons.
• 1.000 DKK

Reference period

The income year refers to the incomes for that entire year.

Frequency of dissemination

Annually.

Legal acts and other agreements

Section 6 of the Act on Statistics Denmark (most recently amended by Act no. 599 of the 22nd of June, 2000).

The statistics are an important source for the data requested by Eurostat for the "Statistics on Income and Living Conditions" (Regulation (EC) No. 1177/2003).

Cost and burden

There is no response burden for private citizens or businesses, as all data is collected via Central Tax’ registers and "Udbetaling Danmark".

Comment

Additional information is available on Statistics Denmark website under the topic of incomes. It's also possible to contact us by phone or E-mail for further information.