SO Z12'719 and Israel. Vital Avdhealth Statistics. Data

- DOCUMENT RESUME

- ED 189',020 SO Z12'719

$ s TITLE Person-Number Systems of Sweden., Norway, Denmark, and Israel. Vital avdHealth Statistics. Data Evaluation ard Methods Reseerch, Series 2, Number 4 84. INSTITUT/ON National Center for Health Statistics (DHEW/PHS), 4 Hyattsirille, Ad. TEPORT,NO DHHS-PHS780-1358

PUB CATE Jun 80 ;. NOTE 67P. AVAILABLE FROM National Center for Health 5tatistics, 3700 Fast-West Highlfay, Hyatt1:4vi11e, .MD 207Bg (freg)

FDR$-PPICE . AF01/PC03. Plus Potage. DESCRIPTORS ,--\*Classification; Comparative-Analysis; GoveTnmert 'Role: *Health 'Services: Number Concepts: *Nulber\ .Systems: Pesearch Methodology: Research Repoits:' *Statistical Analysis::*Statistical Data; *Use Studies IDENTIFIERS Denmark: Israel: Norway: Person Numberipg SysteMs: Sweden .

ABSTRACT The booklet presents a report on the operation and, use-of person numtering.(PN) systems for vital and healthstatistics In Israel and Scandinavia. A PN systeminvolves assigning a'different rumber io each° irdividual withir a givtn'society and using that number for,commercial, governmental, ard militaryicrentification. The / purpose of the report is to provideinformation abot PN systems to people involved in the'-public polic/ debate over whether such a system should be-adopted in the United States. The docueentis presen'ted in.eight chapters. Chapter I explains how to develop a PN .sysitem and'r,elates that Tsrael and theScandirnavian nations were selpcted as case,s+udies becabse they areforerUnetrs in developing and-applying PN eystems in national statistical programs. Chapters II 11rough V:focusron the PN systems of Swedent:Norway, Denmark, and Israel, respectively.. Topics Ancludeorga.ndring and operating the svstems,,uotlem4 pecufiar to each coArtN, administrative and ..statistical bees of .01e-.PN system, Auture use plans, and plans for additional studis. and Tesea'rch. Chapter reviews advantages and -limitationg of PN systems. Adyantages include that PN systems are techn'ically easy,to'use and store.and that they increase data a available f(Mstatistics, planning, and resea'rch. Disadvantages include that'the digits become reversed fairlyt frequently, number 'files are nci't.,alwayp.' transferred when-,k_person boves, andintegration with other s Stms is difficult. Chapter VII focuses on issues of ^ confidential ty a d priqacy. Thefinl chapter presents ,en overview of PN systems in 1 nations, includin_othetNetTherlands Peru, %Australia, and Japan. 1 (1)81 V v

* Reproductions supplied by PDPS ar.e tfhe best that 'can be made * Irom tle original document. ******************le U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. EDUCATION WELFARE % - NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS Et?EN REPRO. DATA EVALUATION AND METHODS RESEARCH DUCED EXACT1_,X AS RECE,IVED 'FROM THE PPRSON OP ORGANIZATION ORIGIN; ATING IT POINTS OF VIEW OR OPLNIONS STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRE- SEIV OFFICIAL NATIONAL INS1ITUTE OF 1 EDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY

ThePerson-Number Systems

P of Sweden, Norway, .Denmark, and Israel de

, 1

VITAL and HEALTH STATISTICS

DATAEVALUATION' AND, METHODS REgEARCH

S et eir-2-1--Nimther

DHHS.Publication No, (PHS) 80-1.358

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Public HeaLth Service Office Of Health Research, Statistics, and Technology National Center for Health Statistics Hyattsville, Md. fine 1980 JUL 2 9 i983 2 NATIONAL CENTER FOR HEALTH STAT&I-ICS

DOROTHY P. RICE, Director.

ROBERT A. ISRAEL; Deputy Director JACOB J. FELDMAN, Ph.D., Associate Director lor Analysis G AIL F. FISHER, Phil., Associate Director for the Cooperative Health StatisticsSystem 'ROBERT A. ISRAEL, Acting Associate Director for Data Systems - ALVAN 0. ZARATE, Ph.D., Acting Associate Director for International StaAistics ROBERT C. HUBER, Associate Director for Maui:gement MONROE G. SIRKEN, Ph.D., Associate Director for Mathematical Statistics, PETER L. HURLEY, Ass'ociate Director for Operations .JAMES M. ROBEY, PhID., Associate Director for Program Development GEORGE A. SCHNACK, A ctin(Associate Director for Resecirch ALICE HAYWOOD, Information Officer

OFFICE OF INTOVATIONAL STATISTICS

ALVAN 0. ZARATI4Th.D., Acting Associate Director Library of Congress Cataloging in PubliOtionData Lunde, Anders Steen Th,e person numbersystem of Swe4 Norway; Denmark, and Israel.

iVital and health statistics :.Serith, Data-evaluationand methods researiCh; no. 84) ([DHHS publication]; (PHS) 80-13541;4 Supt. of Docs. no.:HE20.620.9:2/84 , 1. ScandinaviaStatistical servicei.2. Identification numbers, Personal;Scandinavia. 3. Privacy, Right .ofScandinavia. 4 0-aelStaiisticalservices'.5. Identification numbers, Petsonall-Israel.6. Privacy, Right of4srael.I. Title.II. Series:.UnitkStates. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital and'healthstatistics : Series. 2, Data evaiation andmeth- ods research ; no. 84.III. Series: Wilted States.Dept. of Health and Human Services DHHS publication; (PHS) 80-1358. , , RX,409.1.:45 , no(84 tHA37.S21 . 312'07'23s 79-607800 ISBN 0-8406-Q17,9-4 a- :.:,. [001.4'22].)

For3a1ehy theSuperiniendent toct-tiits. U.S.Government Printing Office. Washington. D.C. '2.0402

Vital and Fieaith Statistics-Senes 2-No. 84

Ng; DHHS Pulgication No. (PHS) 80-1358 4.1ibrary of ConWps Catalog Card Number 79-607800

4,311r . 0 Li

FOREWORD

For some years, the Proposal to establisha person numbering system in-the United States has been a matter of public policy debate. The use Of a number to uniquely identifyan individual, and its application universally for commercial, governmental and military identificationpurposes has obvious advantages 'from a data processing, epidemiological and health research, ' and record linkage point of view; and personal advantagesto the individual as well. Person numbering systems have existed inmany parts .of the world under a variety of systems of governme ts. However,many persons view the establishment of such a system as a realo otential threat to the traditionai freedomsen- joyed by Americans. At its May 1976 meeting, the United States Nationai Committeeon Vital and Health Statistics recommended that the National Center for Health-Statisticspre- pare a-report describing the operation and use of these systems. This report describes the techniques used in these numbiring systems. No at- tem0 has been made to assess the health, social,or economic impact of these sys- , tems. The report4intended to be factual, and makesnorecommendations either for or against the use oi person numbering systems in the United States.

t. ft 4

- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

t This report was made possible through the cooperation ofofficials of the central bureaus of statistia of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark,and the Director of the Ministry of the Ir4eriors. of Israel. The associateauthors who contribute& manusCripts are: Ms. Judith Huebner, Deputy Director General,Ministry of the Interior, Hakirya, Jeriisalem, Israel Ms. Gerd S. Lettenstrom,C'hief, Population and, Health Statistibs, Central Bureau of Statistics, Oslo, Norway Mr. Stig Lundeborg, Department for-Statistics onIndividuals, National Cen- tral Bureau of Statistics, Stockholm, Sweden Mr. Lars Thygesen, Chief, Public Registe sSection, Danmarks Statistik, Copenhagen, Denmark

Dr., Anders S... Lunde, Consultant to the, NationalCenter for Health Statistics, wrote the introduction hnd thelast chapter, and edited the final report. The offi-

cialkof the countries mentioned contributed to thefinal chapter..

iv 4

.CONTENTS

Foreword.

. e Acknowkdgmenis. A iV 1 . e Chapter I. Development of the Person-Number SYstem 1 Introdualon Die Person NUmber and Its Use 2 Construction 'alike PN ., , 3 Sele6tion of the Co1n4r1es 4

Chapter II. The Personal Identification .Ninber in SWeden ; 5 Introduction 5 Operation of the PN Systeip A 5 ' es integration in the Numbering System 6 UscoftJPN t 6 Security Insurance System 7 -Health Services 7 Vital Statistics 7 Health Statistics 8 Technical and Other Problems 9 Solvini Problems,- 10 Future Anticipated Use of the PN System ' 11 , Chapter III. The Perzon-Number System in Norway , 12 Introduction 12 Characteristicsein the System 12 Organization of the Files 13 Operation of the System 13 .Updeting hf the Central Population Register . 13 Use 'of the Person Number ' tos,:. - 14 Apnniitrative Use -. 14 Use in the National Insurance System 14 Use id Vital and Health Statistics 14 Use in Research .. / 15 Problems in the System . A 16 Future Use 16 ..PlansV for Additional Studies and Research / 1 7 Chapter IV. Personal Identification Numbers and Population Statistics.in Denmark ...0. 18 ;Introduction 9-0( 18 Structure of the Central Population Register -- 19 '-:) 19 General Application of the PN . . Population Statislics 19 _ Other Applicationf 20 Future Plans Regardinithe Utilization of Registers\ aI 21

Chapter V. The Population Registry and the Use of PiSsonal Identityumbers in Israel 23 Introduction 23 A Note on the IsrieliiLeof a Number System 24 Development of the Existing PH 24 - Use of the PN System - 24 Registralion of Births 25 Voters' Ledger 25 Border Control Card. File (Personal) ;25

, Problems and Difficulties with the System 26,- Plans for the Future., 26 vat 4. 111, II Chapter VI. Advantages and Limitations of the Person-Number System 28 Swedert 28 Norway 29' Denmark a 29 Israel 30

Chapter VII.Confidentiality and Privacy 33 Sweden ---33 Norway 35 Denmark 36 Israel. 37

Chapter VIII.Other Person-Number Systems in the World Today 39 Advanced Systems 39 i J 39 Finland ,..-j-- France ..,. 39 -Iceland ., 41 The Netherlands 41 r .. Developing Countriei., 42 . Argentina 42 Chile ; 42 Colombia 44 43 Peru 43 Uruguay . 43 Jordan 44 Health Social Security, and huurance Systems. 44 United4 Kingdom a I. 44 . .45 Australia . Other Countries 45 Other National' Systems 4ff .Federal Republic of Germany 45 japan 46 Portugal 4 'United States 6

References woo 000000 481

Bibliography 49

Appendixes I. Construction of the PN in Sweden 52 II. Construction of the PN in Norway 53 III.Structure of the PN in Denmark 54 IV. Construction of the .PN in Israel 55 V.Items in the Swedish Cancer-Environment Register 56 VI.Itemsln Study "Outcome of Succeuive Pregnancies for Norwegian Women 1967-1979" 57 VII. Population, Birth, and Death Data 59

LIST OF TEXT TABLES

A.Examples of Person Numbers: Sweden,Norwly, Denmark, and Israel 3

B. Characteristics maintained in the Central Population Register Situation File 4. 12

C. Items in Person Numbers in planned or operational national data systems 40

fa:05 A

sp.

SYMBOLS

Data not ivailable Category not applicable .. Quantity zero Quantity more than 0 but leis than 0.05 0.0 Figure does'not meet standards of reliability-or precision-.

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THEPER'SON-NUMBERSYSTEMS OF SWEDEN, NORWAY, DENMARK, AND ISRAEL

Anderg S. Lunde, PCD., Stig Lundeborg, Gerd S Lettenstrom, LarsThygesen, and kitlith Huebnera

)

CHAPTER I

'DEVELOPMENT OF THE PERSON-NUMBER SYSTEM f / INTRODUCTION' supporting police and court references. The registers eventually proved useful for the devel- By the beginning of the 20th century many opment of population statistics, especially for weoern Luropean nations had established popu- studies of internal migration, but also for re- lationregister'sthat Involved the continually search in many areas, including health statistics. updated systematic registration of the popula- Although,the product of the early local tion primarily by name, residence, age, sex, and registerscouldbe accumulated for national marital status. Originally, these were local regis- administrative ,purposes and statistics, this task t'ers administered at the municipal, county, or was difficult and time consuming. The punch- :province level. By the middle of the 20th cen- card Ostem, used for large-scale periodic statis- 'filly, a movement to centralize the'registers had tics,wasoftenoperatedthroughregional begun and, while the local systems were kep't punch-card centers. The development of the intact, data from the local register offices were CPR's coincided with the methodologies pro- proVided to,Central-Population'Registers vided by eleronicdata processing (EDP), (CPR's), Which were usually maintr d at the which .greatly ihcreased the potential for data national atitiitical office. handling, Storage, and retrieval; and provided for The Orimary reason forestablishQrpopula- national magnetic data-tape registers of -the tion regiiters was to maintain reliable informa- popuration. The CPR's also simplified certain tion for administrative purposes, particUlarly for problems of control and dataquality because programplanning,budgeting,.andtaxation the management of the system was centralized. records... Theregistersalso were usefulfor At first, indMdual registration forms and the developing voting and education registers, main- resultarit lists of persons were coded by various taining sotial insurance and welfare files, and coding systems using name and residence. Num- bers assigned either randomly or sequentially by date of entry into a file were also used. Local ,aNational Center for Health Statistics, National Cen- tral Bureau of Statistks (Sweden), Central Bureau of registers ancrother institutions developed sepa- Statistics (Norway), Danmarks Statistik (Denmark), and rate file codes. When CPR's were created, their_ Ministry of Interior (Israel), respectively,. 'efficient operation required that each individual be defined by a single, universal code. As com- In a typical population numbering system, , puters were used, a universal numberirigsystem the PN is placed on all pertinent dOcuments init was developed and each individual was given a the national data system. As". a basisource, or Person Number (PN). data base, the systc'in may act largely as a census .. Nurrierals are preferred as the primary.refer\e- in which persons are defined by a lelect number rents or standard identifiers in data-base corn-, of characteristics or events. This data base is puter systems, because computer Operations are continually updated.by the addition of births, based on 'a' numerical system and any other subtraction of deaths, additisA of immigrants, codes must be translated into a number for com- and the removal of emigrants=a classic demo- puter applications. If more than one codf is ap- graphic formula. The data base also can provide plied to the records ,of a single individual, the information on marriage and divorce and Other chances of error are increased. A. unique and uni- personal particulars 'or events. These data are versal number is efficient and easy to handle for required for national assessnlent anFl program comparing and sorting, storage capacity isin- planning: creased, and record maching and linking are The PN is plami on documents and becomes considerably improved. . a file reference in many clericaloperations and statisticalsystemsinpublicadministration. These systems often develop their own data files and, Using the PN, they either may update their THE PERSON NUMBER AND ITS USE inf&-mafion from the CPR reports, "Or they..may .1 attain direct integration with the CPR to com- The term :Person Number" refers to the bine the information in their files with informa- entire personal identification number used in the tion from the CPR. Data from censUses and vital national statistical systems of Sweden, Denmark, statistics registration systems may be integrated Norway, and Israel. This number will lessen the to achieve current population statistics. Some confusion caused by using either a "birth num- cantriesareplanningcentral .registers and ber," a "personal identity number," an "individ- archives with the capacity for integrating many ual identification nUmberr or a "CPR number." forms of data for public administration. The The commonly used. "birth number," for ex- technology to achievethese goalshas been / ample, may be most confusing because it may available for some time. refer either to ,a random number provided at Although rthe PN systemshave become birth Or to a number that includes a birth date. indispensable for public administration in the The Scandinavian countries alsodifferentifte countriesinthis report,theirpotential for between a six-digit number based on birth date important researcfili. isIicif been fully, realized. and athree-digit birth numbei ("individua Sweden,indesignating a ready-made survey digits). frame by selecting the records of all persons The PN, as a computer file key, has the born on the 15th of the has been able to characteristics of uniqueness, permanence, reli- take surveys of socioecon ic importance.'Nor- ability,,and universality. It is unique andinde- way and Denmark areengaged in significant pehdent because it is the sole identifier for one occupational mortality studies by PN linkage to particular individual .and for that person alone. %death, medical, and census records. The National It is permanently assigned, therefore, no dupli- Institute of Child Health and Human Develop- cation should occur. Although several numbers ment is supporting a study, remarkable in its relating to an individual mighttbe linked in a file, details, entitled "The 06tcome ofcSuccessive each additional item and operation adds to pos- Pregnancies for NorWe-gian Women 067-1976" sible error. The PN is reliable in the sense that (see appendix VI). A' unique nunibering "system the systenii -provides for Such quality controls affords the possibility of automaticalllinking that the 'correct number appears on the named records from the Medical 'Birth Registry, which person's recordsMt is universal because it is one gives details on preNancy experiences and births identifiable unit in a universe of numbers. as well as family histoi'ks of diseases,with the 1

o death- files, which provide data ori the causes of tem; with two check digits, 1 out of 100,000 er- -.death of irgants,under 1 year of arrand the rors willimss through. In theScandinavian c9un- census file, which provides statisticalbackground tries, the PN is constructed with an initial six data on the merther and father: No reference to digitsfor day, month, and year of birth; in individuals'is made in these studies. Sweden, the' order is reversed. Three file num- Government agencies and central statistical bersor individual digits,numbered 001-999,. bureaus rare well aware of the possibilities for ollow. Odd numbers stand for 'males and even linking statistical information to obtain new in- numbers for females. In Denmark, the fir,s41 digit sights into 'areas of fertility1 mortality, morbid- represents the century of birtheln Norway, per- ity, and health services (see appendix VII), hut sons .born in the 19th century areassigned num- they are prevented from pursuing these lines oft bers 749-500 and those in the 20th century , inquirybecauseof budget ana priorityre- 499-000. Israel has a PN of nine numbers, as- straints. Univeisity and institute,resegch groups signed at random and including one check digit. undoubtedly willincreasingly refer to CPR'data This number has no-Cue for age or sex. and data from various subsystems. Government Table A gives examples -of PN's. (See also regulations generally permit the use of statisti- appendixes I through IV.). , cal (not individual) data for research. For complete coverage of the population, the PN is provided at birth and remains with the individual until death. Even after death refer- CONSTRCCTION OF 'THE PN . ence can 'be made to dataconcerning that per- The PN is conitructed in accord with stan- son, for eKample, in aretrospective study,o_f. the dard computerpractice foecheckirig and coffee- outcome of disease. Israel has had the unique errori in the number, which includes the experience of providing a PN to each individual addition of check. digitk. The check digits are in a new population and to thousands of immi- calculated by means of Ntodulus 10 or'Modulus grants since 1948, and it has served as akey to 11 algorithms compUted ori the basisof the ,needed socialserviCes. However, the Scandi- other digits. With one check digit,1 out of navian countriescentralized their n'umbering 2,000 errors will pasthrough the central sys- systems only in tklas't decade. Reniarkably,

Table A. Examples of Person Numbers: Sweden, Norway,Denmark, and Israel

Individual Check Date of birth Country, number, and identification digit digit

Sweden 8 45041d-1488 (female born Apr. 10, 1945) . 45 04 10 148 (year) (month) (day) Norway it 97 651 31 260597-65131.(male born May 26, 1897) ., 26 05 (day) (month) (year)

Denmark

- 117 1 030636-1171 (male born June 3, 1936) 03 oe 36 iday) (month) (year)

.- Israeli . .. . 2 ... 3 041148883fregistered person) ) .. 1. 1Random number Is assigned.

Va. 3 4 in les§ than 10 years, their systems have become either established such systems in part or plan to firmly established and completely basic to pub- do so. The question of whether to establish a PN lic administration. systern has emerged in all developed countries, and some developing countries have even established the system in the laws of the land. The SELECTION OF THE COUNTRIES status of these systems is discussed in chapter, VIII. The Scandinaviarr. cOuntries and Israel are The report -deals indkvidually with die ex- forerunners inkthe development and application periences of" Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and of a tinique PN system in national statistical Israel. Although the data processing aspects of systems. In thesr countties the PN has not only the nurpbering systerns art very similar, the been used for civil administration, but also has discussion of each country will differ becaüse ,been extended into several research areas. Nor- 'each author emphasized matters peculiar to his way, Sweden, and Denmark are now engaged in ot her country. These areas of emphasis 'collec- research in health and related areas. Israel has tively provide a broad overView of numbering used the PN system differently from the north- systems operations. ern countries, and its plans for the system are Chapters on tbe four countries are follOwed extensive. Because of these developm6ts, Nor- by evaluational chapters inwhich the advantages , way, Sweden, Denmark, and Israel were selected. and limitatfons of numbering systems, the prob- for study. lems of confidentiality and privacy, and the Considerable international interest in a PN status of numbering systems throughout the system exists, and many other countries have world are discussed. 1-

,44,

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L)if 0. v

k C "' -:' -;

OHAPTER,WPr THE;PERSONALIDENTIFICATlON4UMBER IN SWE9EN

ATRODUCTION. chant navy reOster,arid income tax. Local , parochial registration offices send opersonthl-data In Sweden, the administrative, functions of cards containing pertinent-changes to' the county the Government are _largely delegated to cential Wilministration. The county adminietration also administration boards, each representing differ-- suppliei data:to other bodiet such as the local ent areas 2f .competence. One such authority, tax authorities, the*gocial Security Administra- the Naional Tax Board, is concerned with popu- tion, and the defense authorities. lation registration and the administration of the Person Number. Actyal registration procedures k are carried out by the Church ofSweden, which 1. OPERATION OF THE PN SYSTEM is the state4church, by using a iysfem that is approximately 300 years 'old,. The local clergy- The'iainfunction of the National Tax man is..the registrar, and hist registe,ationdistrict B6ard is it ..sufiervise and organize the woTk of istheparish. There are 2400 parishes in the local and regionAl authorities. It is re0onsi- Sweden. The clergyMan also acts as the local ble for sVstems design, programming, and the Census, qicial. In the local population registra- development of thevarious "routines to be tion systein, individuals are listed. according to administere,d by the regional and local authori- their place of residence in relevant ledgers and

, sonal,identity number, birth date, place of birth, day of birth. Odd numbers are uied for boys and

' parochial registration locality, and address. The even ones for girls. " data also include information on marital status, Not onlythe newborn, butalso other date of change of marital status,citizenshipc categories can be assigned. a PN by the National legal incapacity, and membership or nonmem- Tax Board. One example is the immigrants who bership in the Church of Sweden. There are also haveregisteredinaparish., who have not fodes relating to pensions, conscription, mer- previously resided in Sweden,.and who have not 'already bcen given a number. liyhen an immi- administration antl..coptains all s,ignificant infor- grant,regiSters at the parochial registfation of- mation about t4xes and theircolleciion. A fice, the latter informs the National Taxtioard taxpayer's ideruity nurriber is'thNsam4e.as his,PN and requests a number. The board checks to de- plus the two-digit code'of the coUnfy where he termine whether the applicant has been given, a .lives. In this way the population file tind the tax numbcr and, if pat, it-assigns one. A person whè filecan, beintegrated.For variousofficial has been assigried a number at any time.in the purposes' full integration can-.be achieved be- pas.twillbe reassignedhisoriginal n6mbcre tween tac 'population file, the tax Eile, and the- Since 1969, PIt's haye alto been assigned to)32r- reil-eltarefile Via the' PN and the real-estate sons who have com6 frofn abroad. to WOrk ideritity number. but who have, not stayed,long enjWigh toi,e'registered at the parochial.office as living in Swe- den. The National Tax Boar'"vill assign,such a USE OF THE PN person a riumber either wire-1 it issUes him a pre- In SWeden, the Pergbnal identity number-is ) liminary income tax return or when he enrolls used extensively in . public adminiStration. At in the social insuranc'e scheme. There are otherP the outset, the PN- was used primarily.as a more minor categories of people 'who ',may also be efficient way to identifyindiViduals. Since the givenPNis for special regislration, for instance, 4introduction of computers in population regiS- 'Swedish'citizens living abroad who apply for tration and taxation a6plications,_thc numbering. a Swefrrh- passport and who have not pre7, system has become a necessary, hmdamental viously been_ given a PN. element in the maintenance of an acsturate and op> efficient public administration systeyn.'rhe iden- INTEGRATION IN THE NUMBERING tity numlfer has become the key file number in SYSTEM various subsystems and is placed on all pertinent records of the individual. Specific uses are as The magneticItapetile of the population,follows: kept at the cdunty administration office. is arranged according to PN's with the oldest number, A. General lisiftd first and the 'newest number issued last; 1,4Population registration \ this file is Updated once a week. Data concerning 2. Taxation members of a family are linked; a husband's rec- . ord will conrin a note with his wife's PN and' 3.Military service, (Military Register), . viceyersa. The record of \a person. under age 4.Civil defense 18 will contain a.note with the PN of the head of thc household. This method enables a combi- 5. 'Tpcial insurance., (National Social In, nation of data concerning mernbers of a family Attrance Board) living together. The record .for every Person in 6.Education/school registe; (local edu- thefile contains an' identificalion number for catiOn committees, school boards) the county, the munictpality, the parish, and the real-estate unit where he resides. This number 7.Healthserlices(hospitals,Oftlent relates, to a special magnetic-tape register of all medical records) the al-estate units in the county. The poula- 8.Passports (National Police Board) ti9ffiles" andthereal-estatefilescan be Registers of motor vehicles and driv- matched, and the information integrated: A list 9. die real-estate units and the ,,ing licenses (National Car Reestra- arranged by all tion Board) -personsinhabiting them is compiled periodically so that the exa.ct legafdorniciles of eachindivid- 10 Insurancecompolaies,banks,and ual can be established f6r the coming year. other organizations The population file is alsosed as the basis Ii Sweden, other official or non- fort the tax file, which .is kept' by the county official bodies use the PN in their

.e 6 01. / register of emplQyees,clients, plte is used to identifjr the patient for all policy holders; andSQfdrth. In hospital services. The PN is also .ised as the some cases, the' ofentral adminis- identifier on a patient's medical recorda' docu- tiAtion permits notifiption of ment that-The health services are legatly,obliged chAngesof .adaresstothese to keep. The PN a also frequently u,sed as in organizations. t, identifier in various kinds of hea1th)servic.6 staff r administration registers such as those of physi- 11.Health , cians, nurses, And paramedical. persdimel.

1,.Vital statistics yip! Statistics 2. Health statistics ^t, 95 .4. ;tvery week, the -cpunty administrations no- '. tffy the ,National Central Bureau of Statistics Social Security Insurance System .(sgs) ot changes in their population register social secur4insurancesystem toncernin4 births, .ti,i..gration, deaths, and marital (chiefly,health insurance, parents' insurance, status,and PN's are usedasthe kmeans ..: national retirement pensions, and supplementary -identification: . pensions) i&adrninistered by the1National. . Social The SCB gathers inforination in a .register Insurance- Board and` the local so-cial insurance system called the.kegister of the Total Popula- offices. A Comprehensive advanced data process- tion (RTP) which includes all persons entered on ing (ADP) system has Iren developed for this parochial registersin Sweden, and which is admiNstration and is;used not only for social 'updated at regular intervals. Apart from PN's; it iecurity insurance but ,alsooNfor certain othex not only Contains the. majority of the county 'allowances and benefits: The ADP system, and administrations' population, data, but also 'contains certain data on income and taxes. Tbe . social security 'insurance ad- consequently main object of this register is to serve ai a base ministratioli, i sed On, the fact that the infor the production of statistics concerning' inch- sured can be idenled by their PN's. ' The personal idehtity numbers serve as ke9.s _viduals. If the Data Inspection Board has given . or links among diffrent registers andwith PN's its permission then it is possible, by using.the PN as identifiers, these registers.can bebroughtip as a matching device, tg carry outthe joint to date quickly and simply. The local social processing df statistical mateTiallvithin the are6, security insuranceofficesarecohtinuallyin and to reduce the number of -variabl6 that have touch 'with current information in the central to be collected in certain other sets ofstatistical registers via.display terminals ai approximately material, 500, central and local ins4rance offices. In the iThis 'register also provides' a framework for terminal communication system, the PN is used statistical samples. The individuals selected in as the identifier. the sample can be linked by their PN's to any With this n,umber,. 'ilata can also be ex- other available information 'pertinent to the changed with o4r authorities, and social secur- survey. . itybenefits can pe tiaiksmitted simply and Sweden's population statistics are based on' safely.. the Register of the TotalPopulation system. The PN serves as the key to matchirtg and t duplicating in the following manner: Health Services Various pati6it booking systems that are

pow being established in the.hgalth services are * To check duplication of notifications base'd on the PN. When a patient Visits a hospital To -check notifications of multiple 'births forthefirsttime, heisissued a patient- attendance card, Which is a metal plate staMped To compile tables showing rates for with his PN, name, and other information. Thii emigrants according to the duration of

a °

their stay in Sweden (the immigrant The Register of Deaths contains data from register is matehed against the emigrant the 1960 Census of Population and Housing and register) from the annual mortality data for 1961-70. Data on demographic features, occupation, eco- -To compile tables showing ratesfor those who have received Swedish citizen- nomic activity, educationallevel, and so forth, ship according to the duration 6f their from the census are linked to mortality, daia sty in Sweden (the immigrant register is such as place of residence at the time of death, matched affinst the register of those date of death, and causes.of.de4ath. This linkage Who. have reZeived Swedish citizenship) enables J3oth the combination lof data and the tudy oknortality in anY population that can be To compile migration statistics fofmu- defined by means of census data. The Regipter nicipalities -relati 1 g to 5-year periods in of Deaths_is expected to be of great interest in which those whhave moved over a epiderniological studies. municipal boundary once, are, recorded separately and those who have moved Ilealth.Statistics botAn and outare rec,6rded separately .(in-migrants are matclied agairfst out- The PN's are used as identifiers it a number _m grants) _----of regisiers in the public health sector. They are T prodace migration statistics,, for ex- used as matching\ devices in the various registers ample, for 1970 and 1971 from data to enable data supplied oh different occasions from the 1970 Census of Population and . regarding the same individual to be interrelated. Housing on items such asoccupation, The registers have many uses including statistics type of economic activity, education, tin 2ecia1 ..surveys. The National Board of Health and income (the 1970 and 1971 migra- ant' Welfare is primarily responsible for Swe- tion register was matched against the den's central health statistics. The-PN'i are used in the following major registers among others.:. 1970 Census of Population and Housing)_

The PN's %lave been used in censuses of .popula- 1.Statistics on patients . "Th tions since 1960, primarily as a matching device. Their use has steadily increased as more infor- 2.Notifications on the Medical aspects ot mation from the censuses has been gathered birth* from _theregisteri, material. Consequently, the 3. The Cancer Register number df lath collected directly from the general public has been reduced. 4. The Register of Gynecological Medical The PN's are used as ifching devices in Examinations other areas of pppulation statistics in Sweden, 5. The' Register of the Side-Effects of Me- ,for example, the SCB's Register of Deaths and &anal. Drugs the'Register of Pertons Bornon the 15th of the <, Month. The latter register cbmprises about 3 Statistics on patients.Statistics on patients percent of the population. The register contains are compiled mainly toApbtain information for demographic data (including migration) pertain- administrative planninghe primary data con- ing to those born on the 15th and to the sist not only of the, patient's PN; but also of husband or wife and children living with the' particulars concerning medical diagnoses and In'addition, it contains data relating operations when the patient was in the, hospital. to income and economic activity (according to a The PN's permit (1) the identification of the rough breakdown) for the indiVidual and his or data record so that supplementary material may her spouse. The, register has been used chiefly be obtained and particular items can be checked for sample surveys of fertility, migration, and and corrected, (2) the cthnputerized linkage of changes in income at both an individual anda several different periods when a patient received *?.family level,as well as a sampling frame for medical attention, and (3)the computerized

P.,.interview surveys. supplementation of data from other registeri,

8 1 6 . (' ''''\ Furthermore, the existence of PN's increaseithe and supplemented by ',comparing them with a opportunities for the use of statistics in special microfiche tegister ot, the total population of surveys, for instance, epidemiological researc Sweden. The data are, then registered by com- T1e. statistics on patients have another f ion Vuter, and the data from the mortality statistics rearding the side effects bf medicines: to draw. are transferred by joint4.4nputtrized processing attentionto the adverse reactionS to..44rugS Aith the PN as UK identifier. The register is because information is accessible from patjents: updated- continuously When-there are additions Medical records. The PN's facilitatesuch a or corrections. The-PN isusetas the identifier in ,. s - - search. . 1 updating the register. For identification pur- ' Birth No ifitation.The medical aspects of , poses ali or part of a name is also registered. The .births are 4istered partly to provide a founda- peme is necessary, for instance, in cases where it , tion for medical.- slatristics ,of deliveries, ai a has not been possible:to obtain complete, per- planning base. This form of registration: elso soli& identity nuMbers. Jenables retrospectiveuse of data to detect GyneCological Medical Examinations Regis- groups among the newborn that are at,risk. The ter.To supplement the CancerEnvironment register containsnumerous medical data con- Register,the National Board of Health and cerning the mother'sstateof 'health during Welfare keeps a register containing data from 2 pregnancy, the course of the delivery, and the gynecological examinAtions under the aegis of stateof heatth of the newborn child. The the county cbuncils.. Those asked to submit to mother is identified in the register by means of these examinations are selected from the popula- her PN. The newborn child's number is not tion registration system. The use of PN,'s in these added ,until the register is updated which is examinatiohs enables monitoring a woman's about 8 months after the register year has state' of health regarding cancer and making fol- expired. . lowup assessments.. Cancer Register. The Swedish Cancer Regis- Medicinal Drug Register.The Register of ter (see appendix V) was established in 1958. In the Side-effects of. Medicinal Drugs should pro- 1978, permission to supplement the register vide information speedily about side-effects that with data from the Population and Housing may have been caused by a certain medicine. To Census was granted by. the Data Inspection enable patients to be followed scientifically, Board. Persons registered in the 1961-73 Cancer their PN.is necessary. Register and the 1960 census were identified in The 'PN'sare also used in registers and both registers bY their PN's,- and the Cancer- surveys carried out by bodies other than the Environment Register was compiled by merging National Board of Health nd Welfare, such as both registers. the Thberculosis Register, which is kept by the Although the Cuncer-Environment Register' National Association for Cardiac and Pulmonary is primarily intended' for research, it &so has Diseases,: and the registration by the Nationg another function, which is to point out potential Bacteriological Laboratory of notified cases of health hazards. This register has been widely diseases that are a danger to the general public. used as a gateway to varidus research projects. Recently it has proven to be of major impor- , twice in investigations' of the relatiOnship be- TECHNICAL AND OTHER PROBLEMS. tween the occupational environment and the. origin of tuinor diseases. Apart from the problem that the syst4is not entirely self-checking, no serious technical Data on a c',Cer case are collected from...... three- different serurces: (a) clinics, (b) patholo- problem& are apparent. However, immigration gists/cytólogists, and (c) mortality statistics. The from countries having an imperfect population registration has given rise to a problemc-for a - PN- is not \always available on records from the first ,two Scources. Compilations of' data from System with PN's based on' dates of birth. If an clinicsand pathologists/cytologists are made immigrant does noit knbw his date of birth, he is manually with the individual's .birth date and assigned a PN based on an, estimated date of name as identifiers. 'Ilhe PN's are later checked birth. If such a person emigrates from Sweden

i . V I

9 17 , -and then" immigrates into the conntrfWn, system was introduced. Beciuse of the vide- there is the danger tbat he miybe assigned a spread use of PN'S in administrative. material, , newPlf Arpiher ,problem is that people from members of the general public` have become countri s wfth imperfect population registration increasingly -aware of the value, of reaembering systems who do not know their date of birth their number and of being able to look it .up often say they. were born on January 1st. The easily. Consequently, errors in these numptis are . 'result may be both confusion between individ- now very rare compared with the 1960's: uals and an uneven distribution in registers of' individtials'ai.dexed,by PN's; The Problems that arise in the use of tile PN Solving Problems are thos,e related.to the satatistical processing of mkeriat where PN's have been used for identifi- Regarding problems that may arise in a cation,tSuch use of PN's 'became firmly estab- statistical survey due to errors'-in PN's, such lished in vkious registers and sur,yeys during the errors ciritaw be rectified in various ways. The I. 1960's. One reason was that these nuinbers manner of discovery of the error mast be madielt possible for variduss f material t'o determined. Most errors ars distovered by .the be processed together and, thereforJar' better check-digit system when the ,materiál is Ving utilizationofinforthation.. Respoents no registered by computer. Others may be dis- longer.. had to be.asked for the same in ormation covered in .the .actual survey process; for in-' repeatedlys. The production of statistics could.be, stance, in an interview survey where the- survey , population and certain basic data are gathered made More efficient. 1 Three elementssurfaced when this new from previously collected material using PN's. method of statistical production*.began to tie kWhen matched in the computer, the data of implemented: (1) members of thesgeneral public those selected for the survey are supplemented either did not know their own'PN's or gave by an individual's, name and address from a , , the wrong ot40 incomplete numberatheyue to a register that is kept by, the population registra- memory lapse; "(2) -the quality of the number tion authorities. The particulars are then sent to was not satisfactory; and (3) not everyone had the various addresses.. If an individual finds he been assigned a PN, for example, foreign stu- has beeii sent incorrect data,. he will usually dents studying for, a .short period in Swedish inforth the sender. The identity of the person schools. who was originally selected can be traced hy In .the 1960 Census of Population and analyzing the data in the survey where the 'Housing, PN's were used, and errors sometimes selected individual gave the wrong PN. If that arose that prevented a correct linidg.e between .survey contains additional particulars to identify data from the national registration and data this individual, he can be found. This work, irom the special ' Census of Poptjlalion forin. -hQwever, is time consuming and may not always Consequently, 'the national registration data for be feasible because of a shortage of resources. one individual might be entered with the popula- Therefore, the errors may, instead, reduce the tion 'data of another. Similar error* arose when number of individuals in the survey by leading these data were being processed jointly with to nonresponse. Nevertheless, this problem is other setsof material. These errors wei r. a. not insurmountable. combinationofCircustances:ahindividual, A different way of solving the error-problem when filling in his statistical rorm, might copy is to use additional identification devices when his PN incorrectly .or errors might remain from processing the material. However, this course isit 1947 when PN's were introduced for the popula- not taken frequently in statistical surveys; it is tion of Sweden, At, that time the check-digit chiefly used in administrative contexts where sYstem had not yet been introduced. errors in the joint processing of registers may Over, the years, the majority of the errors have unfortunate effects in personal affairs, for .occurring in PN's were corrected,by the popula- inStance, if children's allowances, pensions, and. tion registration authorities, and the check-gigit so forth are sent to the wrong person.

10 J. FUTURE ANTICIPATED USE OF of taxes andthe registration of real estate. THE PN SYSTEM 'Because there are many registers with the 4.ame PN rh the country, it was thought possible to ,.- The National Tax Boardand' theNational 134se the collection of data on the information 'Office of Organization and Management, (see available in them. The committee v)mpleted its chapter VII for a more detailed explanation of work at the end of 19q-8 and made recommenda- , the National Tax Board and the role ofqthepata tions, regarding the use of registers encerning InsPection Board) are develdping(proposals tor a the 1'980 censlis. Although the supply of infor- new ADP system for the registration ofthe mation from die existingregisters could be- population, taxation records, and tax collection considerably expanded, if was'not sufficient Co inthe future. Parliament has decided that_ these provide all .data needs. In tie spring of:1979, prgposalsshould be implemented. The new Parliarnent.agreed on the plans., for the 1980. system is to be adopted in stages. The first st.age, canstis .by :largely following there.commenda- - which is concerned with taxation records and tions of the committee. . . taxcollection,wasintroduced.in1979. A -The work of sludyingthc.Uasibility of using committee to examine the quOtiori of a future registration data will contir14: .The National census for population( and housing was estab- Central Bureau of. Sratisti6414s*.been chargedf lished and charged t6 exariline the'feasibility. of with deierining,waYs.to.0:tai4.,..data other than using more extensively datk found in various through the cectionaPceristt's forrris, such aS administrative sectors such ase administration through popu1atidregisters. an.el clota linkage.

A 4

11 ,ar

CHAPTER III THE PERSON-NUMBER SYSTEM. IN'NORWAY

1.INTRODUC'rION date, all childra born in Norway and all persons- immigrating to Norway for thefl first ,time, are assigned a PN. As in Sweden, ocal recording of. births, IPorway maintains another major register, 'deaths, and marriages has been ,undertaken the Register of Establishments and Enterprises, the parishes of,Norway'since tile 17th century. started in 1956 and based on a 1953 census 'of Local population registration offices were estab- industrial establishments. Two series of identifi- lished only in the 2.0th century; the first was in cation numbers of six digits and one check digit Oslo in 1906. The' prineiple functions 'of these are ,used in the files. Partialregisters for indus-,.' offices were to administer taxes and to process trial establishments and.statistics of accounts Are information on where people lived and.where koduced from the central register; as well as, they moved. During World War II, on March. 1, satistics of wholesale' and retail trade. 1943, the occupatipn authorjtkes orderedall municipalities to establish re istration offices. Atter the war, the Act of November 15, 1946 CHARACTERISTICS IN THE SYSTEM (revised in1970), maintained the practice of ttniversal registration. On January 1, 1965, the* registration offices were centralized under the The CPR is kept on .magnetic tape. The tax authorities and administered by the Central' . record lerigth is fixed. Certain charateristics are Bureau of Statistics. kept in the situation file (see table B). During the 1950's'tlie growth of electronic dataprocessing (EDP)ledtoan increased /, Table B.Characteristics maintained in the Central Population inteiest in .developing computerized statistical Register situation file file systems. Public institutions developed such systems and frequently used personal identifica- Number 4..CharaateristIc of tion numbers as key identifiers. These systems digits were not uniform, and the reference numbers differed. The need for a standardized national Identification number 11 Municipality 4 n.umbering system for efficient public adminis- Name 26 tration was recognized. The Central Bureau of Address (name of street, road, etc., and number) 30 Statistics in 1961 was asked to establish and Postal district 4 maintain a, national identification numbering Type of registration (resident, deceased, etc.) 1 , Marital status 1 system, and the- Central Population Register Identification number of Mother 11 (CPR) was established'October 1, 1964. Identification number of father 11 Datb for type of registration N At first, the register was composed of all Identification number of spouse 11 residents of ,Norway on November 1, 1960, the Family number 11 date of the 1960 census, and all persons who Date of removing day. Nationality 3 immigrated or were born between November 1, 3 1960, and October 1, 1964. Since the latter Migrated from/to country

12 20 ORGANIZATION OF THE FILES cluded inthe CPR such as informationon occupied houses. The regiitration officeshave a The CPR is organized into five files: number to identify *very house in themuniciL pality. This number provides informationused 1. The situation filecontains the acutal in, local and regional planning. This localregister vaMes of thecharacteristics for each is updated once a week byseparate reporting, ini uaron'a given date. routines. , 2. T eport file contains all entries atiout birthj migrations, changes, or correctiOns UPDATING OF THE CENTRAL in 4faraceristics aftera giVen date. It 9 POPULATION:REGISTER also contains the dates .oi theseevenfs.. . , . - S. The chronology file soroins" the mOst . Each week the Central Bureau ofStatistics recentvilue.q,1ca4 cilaracteristicas well seceivei reports from the local registrationoffi- as the date of the latest change in. the ces concerning the following items: cliaracteristic, 1. Births 4. The history file ortains, the oldvalues 2, Marriages of characteristics that have changedas well as the dates of theseevents, and has 3. Deaths the same formal structureas the report file. 4. Internal migration 5.The statistic filecontains data from 5, Movements within the municipality various reports thatare used to produce 6, Immigration statistics. Some dataare taken from the chronologyfile, but most aretaken 7, Emigration directly from the reports.' 8. Inquiry about registration problems 9. Missing persons OPERATION OF THE SYSTEM 10. Paternity to children not born inmar- riage The registration office keepsa wiitten card for each resident in the municipality. Thiscard 11. Name contains the same data as the CPR. When a ,12. Adoption person moves from one municipality to another, he or she has to notify the authorities within8 13. Separation/divorce days. The move is registered in the municipality -14. Changes ih the family number to which the person has moVed, and the registration office in thismuni pality requests this 15. Correction of characteristics in the CPR person's card from the re istration office in the 16, Alteration innames of streets/roads municipality from which heor she has moved. The registration ofç1cesget reports from ,1-7. Naturalizatioin hospitals, clergymen; lo al authorities, and indi- 18. Changes in marital status . viduals about births; deaths, marriages,migration, and other events. The registration offices These reports are divided into three different update .their own registers, supply thereports .ategories: new units in the CPR, alterations in with uecessary,identification numbers,and send the value of characteristics in the CPR,and repetts to the Qentral Bureau of Sfatishcsonce cerrections of erroneous characteristics. When week. The registration offices also keepa sepa- receiving these reports, the 'Central 'Bureau of rateregister on magnctic tape. This regisfer Statistics makes a brief checkon the material, contains some characteristics thatare not in- and any revisions are keypunched. Then,various

13 pay forthe first 2 weeks of sickleave. If the cOntrols are performed- onthe thaterial. (Asence from work) ex- chronology t ontrol isper- duration of sickness Once a Month ceeds this period, theinsurance office shall pay. formed,.and the CPR is updated. Control of cases whenbenefits during sickness are givenis possible because aregister hat USE Of THE PERSONNUMBER been established coniprisihgemployers and employees. Employees axeidentified, by the PN in The national PN systeenis uied in adminis- this register, andemployers are given a separate tratiJe routines, in theproduction of statisticsi employer's number. taxable income and in research projects. Benefits during sickness are and arealsoregardedaspensiori-p-roducing is Administrative Use income. Notifications sentfrom the insura,nce system to the taxationoffice are identifid by Several public authorities.,and 'nstitutions the PN. use orhave reference to the numbeg system. Examples of iuch organizations aret taxation fheHealthAdministration,the authdrities, Use in Vital and Health NAtional Insurance Administration,the Director- ate for Seamen,the Road 'Administration,the Statistics of Defense Department, and$he Administration Reports used foiupdating the CPR are also Electiohs.Also,someprivateinstitutions used in the productionof statistics, especially (mostly banks andinsurance companies) are vital and healthstatistics. Most of these data are permitted to use the FN. system. taken directly fromthe reports after theyhive been 'processed inthe register system andhave Use in the NationalInsurance been transferred tothe statistical file. In addi- supplied with data ex- System tion,the reports are by record linkage. all partsof the tracted from the register The PN is now used in In internal migratiOnstatistics, marital statuS National InsuranceSystem.' This system com- from which the person 'has pensions, and municipality prisesoldagepensions, disability the CPR. injbries and rehabilita- .migrated are taken from benefits for occupational Extensive use of thebirth-number system is sickness, survivor'sbenifits, tion, benefits during made in producingbirth and death.statistits.For and family allowances.This system isfinauTI. sels of reports are budget and partly by pre- w births and deaths, two partly by the national collected: one containsinformation primarily miums paid by employersand employees. The and another co0ains his premium through taxa- for civil administrative use, insured person pays medical ihformation.Although civil reports on tion, and the amountstipulayd is a certain per- local population paid to the births arefirst sent to the centage of hisincome. The amount to the CentralBureau of pension or as benefit&during register and then insured either as,a Statistib, the meblical- reports aresent tO the income. sickness is related to his Medical Birth Registryestablished in 1967.to In the old age pensionand disability pension points for each work .supplythismedicalregister with the birth iilans, a person is given and parents, records on tapeIs. hi income. Points arestored over number for infants year based on from the CPR arelinked ea411 onth withthe years andidentified by the PN:At retirement, td the-Other and child. the pension is fixed onthelasis of pointsfor medical reports related addition totransferringlidentification num- the 20 most favorableyeari. For persons not register, this linkage also attaining points for 20 years,separate rules bers to the medical al§6 relate to disabled reveals cases wtterecivil or medical reports are apply. Separate rules lacking: This controlisimportant for birth persons. fetuses and live-born revised system was statistics because ..de&t On July L. 1978, a infants who dieshortlyafter birth are not introdeced for paythent of:benefitsduring sick- always reported inthe civil registration system. nesS. Regulations statethat the, employershall

9' 14 .22 In the production of death statistics, medical lOwed regarding the number and the-spacing of reports and civil reports are linked by birth and births. deathdates. Through this process,listsare More frequently, the PN. system has been prepared mechanically on nonmatching 'death used in research projects based on record linkagt records. In addition, duplicate records are listed. of data from different sources,. The-population After checking thelists(and correcting the census of 1970, which includes verydetailed errors),medical reports that are missing are information on .eacation, occupation, housing obtainegl to complete the data on the,Eauses of conditions, and other specifics, has been linked . death.The'CPR is also supplied wijh deaths that to demographic as well as economic data. are not reported on the population register. With In the field of vital and health statistics, this process, a comptete file on deaths can be several items were analyzed on the basis of

produced as an accurat,e basis for death statis- record linkage. , tics. The complete file on deaths is linked with Divorces for the period 1971-73 were linkcd the CPR to obtain .the name of the deceased. with'characteristics of the-married couple at This register file is used for production of a na- time of the "census and with data from the \ tional death index that can be used for death taxation file to- show the influence of occuga-\ clearance by all institutions. tion, housing conditions, education, and income Once a year, a situation file of the CPR is on divorce. The results were published bythe used to produce tables showing population by Central Bureau of Statistics in 1975.1 sex, age, arid marital status in each administra- Cause of death from the censüTes from 1970

tive uni . By using the PN, sex and age can be to 1973 inclusive was-linked with occupational directly obtained. Furthermore, tables are pro- data. Standardized rates showed marked differ- ducedeparatelyfortheforeignpopulation ences in mortality according to occupational basal on the characteristic for titizenship. The group. The results were published by the Central PN, which also is the basis of the family-number BureatA of Statistics in 1976.2 system, makes it possible to link persons with To extend the basis-for calculating mortality fatnily nuclei. Family statistics have been pro- for occupational groups, mortality data were duced twice (1974 and 197,7.) and will now be linked with occupational data for both 1960 and. produce& every other year( The birth number 1970. Deatlis among persons economically ac- will also be used to add data on education and tive in 1960 but not in 1970 were included. For income to the family records. special,groups, such as persons who remain in Moreover, the PN is used in the registers the same occupational group for a long period, established for physicians and dentists. By link- more reliabledata will be presented inthe ing these registers with the CPR, data on marital future. The tables Processed will be analyzed statui, residence, and other information,can be and published under thetitle "Occupational

added and used for statistics. These two registers Mortality ."3 . re also.linked with the taxation fileth produce Record linkage with census data has also income statistics for physicians and dentists. been undertaken for research units outside the Central Bureau of Statistics (sfe- appendix VI). In these cases the linkage is made in the Central Use in Research c. Bureau of Statistics and only 'tabular results "e The purpose of establishinR a history file was available. For instance, data from the Can

,to provide re s, arch units witl6 the possibility of Registry have been linked to occupational data. developing udies,such as those based on A recent analysis was made by linking medical cohorts, showing how demographic characteris- birthregister data (perinatal deaths, preterm tics have influenced demovaphic events. births, and congenital malformations) to kensus The Central Bureau of Statistics haststarted data (occypation and education of mother and work not only on projects concerning migration, father)./Possible connections between working butalso on projects monitoring changesin conditiorns and related factors concerning pa- marital status for population projections. Fur-. rents and' conditions during pregnancy, at deliv- thermore, cohorts of marriages have been fol- ery, and future dexelopments in the infant were

-7, 15 traced. The iesults will be published in one of The time from the occurrence of an event to the official statistital series in 1980..Becauke the the time the report ,4 received in the CPR is PN is included in the 1960 and 1970 censuses,, often too long, Sitnplified and rational report record linkage has been undertaken to follow routinesarebei,ng developedto make this the resident population at both censuses forcAnterval shorter. Also, possibilities 'for better changes in chairacteristics. EDP-routinele being considered. c The CPR contains only one concept of Problems In the System address, that is, the address where the person * lives. Some authorities and institutions use a Technictzr problems. When the Central Bu- . postal address such as a postal box number, reau of Statistics was asked toestablish a which can differ 'from the home address. Techni- Ihiptional ,PN system it was assumed that & cally, several addresses can be establilhed as -1411Tiumber would contain the date of birth as a characteristics in the CPR. memory aid. However, in establishing the regis- Training the staff of the 'local 'registration ter, a number of errors in the), date of birth were offices is needed. The work in these offices asso- introduced. When these errors were 4scovered, ciated With the CPR is growing more compli- the persons involved were given newvnumbers. cated, and the responsiBility of each employee This occurrence caused tome technicatproblems has expanded. To solve these problems the Cen.. when matching files from different periods. tralBureau of Statisticsregularly organizes The PN per se contains three individual training meetings with the staff of the local digits. Three digits "can provide 999 individual regisliation offices. Over 4 years, all the local numbers on a specific date, of these, 250 are registrationofficeswill have partkipated in usea forpersons born in the 19th century and these meetings. 250 are stored for future use. Because a large All the problems in'the aPR can be solved if number of immigrants give their date of birth as resouices are available. Plans for solving the the 1st of a month, in particular January 1,,the problems are set up as part of the long-term available individual numbers may be too few. planning program. A general problem connected with storing 'datathe problem of. conwerting data from one Future Use system to anotherhas caused additional work. In the CPR, the family number for each family A broader use for the PN system will depend nucleus is the birth, number of the head of the on three conditions: the development of the family. Thus, when the value of the characteris- CPR, the expansion of the statistical file system, tics in this birth" number changes, the value of and the 'rules that the political authorities will the charactenstics in. the family nuMber also make for the collection and use of perwal data. changes. The development of the CPR can proceed in two Other problems.=A better CPR is increas- ways:first,by establishing completely new ingly needed. Working continuously to improve characteristics in the register, and second, by the quality of the characteristics data is one way technically developing the .register (e.g., putting to meet the demand for better information. the CPR on direct-access media and providing Another is to improve the means of updating the terminals to the 'local registration offices). register. This metho4 has proved difficult be- For the -expansion of thestatisticalfile causethecomprehettsivecontrol system to systems, the central authorities are planning a update the reports is overly complex."The CPR. new countrywide file system and its corewill- should be updated once a week instead of once a consist of the following three registers: a central month. estate register, a central building register, and a One sPecial problem refers to migration. central address register. This register system will Everyone is required to report a migration to the be linked to other central registers, such as the local registration office within 8 days,However, CPR. The main purpose of this 'statistical file some people do not report them. system is to. create an information system for 4 local and iegional planning that willgivtinew >increase the possibilities, not only, for poreand -.and wider opportunities for the use of theCPR. bettgr stvistics, but also for stikdies based on More privatemild public ,,institutions are .rzcord liiiVage. A register on health personnel-is being implemented. This register now comprises .expected-to use the PN. This usage will provide the increased possibility of linking registersand physicians, authorized nursesc auxiliary nurses, will create further demands regarding the quality and some special groups of muses. All categories of characteristics in the CPR. are identified by aPN. In informati6n systems on patients in healthinititutions, the use of a PN will ma4e itpossible to follow persons Plans for Additional Studies through the health service system. and`Research Men, the population census of 1980 is +1. The establishmont and developnient of rggis- mpleted, a followup of ,the anilysis of mor- ters based on the PN systemwill certainly tality and occupation will beundeftake4.

17 eAl2 '';'1

CHAPTER IV .PERSQNAL.IDENTIFICATION NUMBERS AND POPULATION r, STATISTICS IN.OENMARK

INTRODUCTION present and past residents in Denmark since , 1968 and Greenland since 1972. In1924, for. reasons 'similar to those in The CPR also contains information about Sweden and Norway, namely for the collection nonresident persons who 'have some conneCtion of taxes, police welyk, registration of electors, with Denmark, such as payment of taxes. The and population, statistics, Denmark's Parliament CPR only holds current information. Thus for passed the Act on Local Population Registers. changes of address, informatio.n related to the All municipalities were mandated pto establish old address is deleted from the register: How- local population registers, which would be files ever, persons who either emigrate or die remain containing informption about all persons resid- on the. register with the data that were recorded ing in the municiPlity indexed byname, occu-. either at the time of their departure or their. pation, date and place of birth, residence; family death. A special historical register is also main- circumstances, and citizenship/A:he municipal- tained and consists of about 6 million persons. ities were required t%keep the files continually . Techhically, the CPR todayisstored ina updated by informallon from various agencies data-base system with direct access to individual.. on births, deaths, marriages, and divorces,and. information. Keys for direct access are,either the individuals were responsible for notification of PN or the address. The register is updated 4 days

charyes of address. The estabilshment of a , a week. . central register was debated, but- it was not The CPR is administered by the Secretariat enacted.Eventuallythe population registers for Personal Registration in the Department of developed other functions; tax authorities and Interior. One responsibility of the Secrptarigt is t,health insurance funds, for example, were nOti- to instruct the administrators of the 294local fled .about migrations of persons. These agencies population registers on ques ions concerning also kellt their own registers. updating and conAunicatinwith the CPR. Electronic data processing (EDP) was intro- Also, the Secretariat is responsible for keeping ced in. 1968, and a Central Population Regis- the technical system operational. The register' is

(CPR), with a national magnetic data-tape located at1/S Datacentralen, which is a publicly > ster of the Danish population was establiihed owned data-procesiing center. The responsibility and included all the local population registers in for the coordination of thetotalstatistical . one administrative system. The processinvolved production rests with Danmarks Statistik, the Central Bureau of Statistics of Denmark. This the introduction of the personal identification,.. , , number (PN)..The CPR numbering system was office cooperates in the production of data with extended to all sectors of public administration several autAorities such as the Secretariat for and replaced all other systems. In 1972, the Personal Registration, the National Health Serv. system 'was extended to inelude Greenland. The ice,local ra-31 authorities, research .institutes, CPR therefore contains information about all apd Various government agencies.

441L 26 , STRUCTURE OF.THE;CENTRAL The special registers -contain data different POPULATION REGISTER from that of "the CPR because' they are not meant for general use inadministration and the of The,CPR system is composed of several sub- specialized data seldom have the same degree rsgisters including the person and the address reliability. The more important ,public registers the Pension Registers, the registers. The'formeristhenucleus of the are the Tax Register, Unemployment Registers, the Social Registers; system,containing information on thepre-, identified the Hospital Registers;)he Registers ofPersons i viously mentioned 6 million persons of Real by the PN. Personal data iticlude name,address, Receiving Education,theRegisters place of birth, registration, cikizenship, as well as Property, and the Central Register ofEnterprises references to relatives (children, parents, wife, or ' and Establishments. Within the health sector, a husband) by their, PN. Person Numbers arc number ofregisters makeuseoftpe PN. assigned to newborn children and correctionsof Hospital registers, just mentioned, -stdteinforniu- histories. wrong numbersaremade- automatically by don about patients and thcir medical updating the CPR with, the correct date ofbirth In some counties, these registers areon-line staLl in and sek. Immigrants entering Denmarkfor the syStems used directly by the hospital' iirst time arc provided with a`PN. If theydo not connection withpatient treatment. know their date of birth, they areassigned a The Sickness Insurance .Register, also kept year of birth, and theday and month of their by the counties, records information oninsured registration are added. Between 1,000 and2,000 persons (all adult residentsin Denmark) and Serv- persons disappeareach year; most are foreigners their health services.' The,National Health - who arcpresumed to have returned to their ice keeps registers on legalabortion's, births, native landMIthers are mainly Danishcitizens and deaths, 'largely used in medicalstatistics. who will Probably appear at some latertime. TwO specializedmedical registers arc the follow ing:(1) the Cancer,'Register, where 1/2 million living and dead cancer patienbs arcrecorded', and s. GENERAL APPLICATION OFT14PN (2) the Heart Register, wherepatients.with acute coronary throintrcrsisare registered.These re- The PN is used in public administration as a search registers are almost exclusively usedfor file number that serves as an accurateidentifica- statistical analysis. tion of individual persons. It is used in connec- The PN, serving as the key to all systems, tion'with all matters when the public authorities makes it possible to link data fromdifferent are . involved:taxcases, payment ofsocial sources and subsystems.Only the public authori- benefits, hospitalization, admiision to schools ties can acquire information about thePN's and and (nstitutions, purchase of real estate,military receive personal data from the CPR.However, seiviCe, and so forth. By means of the PNthe the employers must know thePN's of their tax authorities, the- socialadministration, and employees becausethey deduct withholding other offices Can retrieve general personaldata taxes. Another exception is thatbanks register '1..om the CPR system. Many branchesof the the CPR numbers of all theirdeposit account makes it possible for tile administration have Constructed special EDP customers., This legality Tegisters that, apart from the CPR data,also auth ritics to exercise an .effective control over contain personal data relevant to thevarious the t.' xpayers' information to tht tax authorities fields' of administration. These specialregisters abou bank deposits and'interest nicome. also use the PN as the file number,and the tr, registersarcconstructed so" That the general personal data arc updated by automatic reports Population Statistics from the CPR\ It is of special impOrtancethat the CPR can supply information aboutincreases The basis of the statistical use of the CPR is and decreases within the population groupwithf the current population gtatistics, which arethe which the administrative authority is contern statistics on population size, composition,and

19 changes inbirths, deaths, migrations, andso certificates cOrnpleted by physicians. The PN Of forth. the deceased is stated on both sources and is Surveys ofthetotal populationa dits used for an automatic linkage of ..the dat'a. composition are- normally made once a ycaron Certificates and reports arc included asa January 1:The bask of the surveys isa complete supplementary basis because ntedical Mforma- copy of pie CPR's register oflpersons and tion about birth (for example, the inducement addresses_compiled at the tum of the year by of labor) or about death and itscause arc. not electronic -data processing at Danmarks Statistik: contained in, thc cpR. "I'lw demographic vari-. However, thedelayinreporting births, Ales such assex, residence, and occupation deaths, and migrations is usually about 3 weeks theoretically could be taken from thc certifi- from) the timc the changc occurred to the times cates and reports, but by applying the demo- the informationispr6tperly recorded in the graphic variables from the CPR, data handling register. The population registcr will, thereforc, can be reduced. Also,thebirth and death never correspond .,e.tothe resident, population. statistics arc coordinated with tlw other CPit-

These delays are taken..#1to account because the . based population statistics. This system is most population count recoided in the local popula- desirable because the number of deaths either by tion register on Jitnuary 1, is adjusted regarding geggraphical arca or -by special industries should births, deaths, migrations, and so forth:it-at be seen in relation -to the sizemd comimsition have taken place beforeanuary 1, but whie of the population in that same doup. were reported within the first 11/2 months of the new year. By this period it isnsured that all Other Applications reports, which are not subject to extraordinary The PN isextensively used for statistical delays, are included in the statistics. produc,tion where- personal data from various Thestatisticsof populationchange% arc sources 'are combined. As previously mentioned, based on magnetic tapes with update i&ords,4such matchings are currently conducted in popu- that,Danmarks Statistik receives from thc ' lation statistics, but the possibilities ofperson- These change extracts must be subjected to an' ornted m"atchings are numecous. Studies mak- initial processing at Danmarks Statistik, when use ofthis' technique arc- describedas ihe change must be established in each individ- foUsiws. ual ease. It must be dccidcd wbethera change Ocrapational mortality --This _study 'demon- has actually taken place, or whether itis only a fstrateddiffefeneesinthe mortaliiy between correctionof wrong data. -When processing 7 various occupational and industrialltgroups. In- change extracts, delav in the reports -must be , formation about occupation at the time of death noted. Inthccurrentstatistics, changes are not ver'y useful-for such a-study. Persons often transferred to the next period (year or quarter leave the occupation -that they hdd Ahrmighout bf a year)if thcy arc reported later tharc.l 1/2 their economically active life because 'of oldage months after the end of the period. or poor health. These occupatitms, however, Thc birth statistics, except for the. GPIc clattt, may have influencedtheirstateof lwalth, are based On midwives' reports that are com- Mortality probably is higher in occupations that pletedfor- eachlivebirthin .Denmark. The °are strenuous and injurious to health. midwives' reportsarc not systematically pro- The study, therefore, followed thc popula- vided with the child's PN, but both repwts are tion that was registered 'at thc CCBSI1Sii1 970 given ,themother's PN, ikhichserve,asa whose employ.mentstatus was recorded:In secondary identificatiOn so thatall items of additionto.thc popuhttion census ma terial, information inthc midwives' reports cane be ihduaing PN's, the systomatized CPR material linked automatically with the changes reported is .computed into thc impulation statistics and from thc CPR. provides information about ciccreasesin' .the Accordingly,the death statistics. are' pre- populationresulting from deaths, migrations, pared bya cOmbination of data from two Ad other causes during I970-7r)4 Medical state- . sources,. namely CPR data and thc original death ments from death certificate3 were-also used in

:20 this study to calculate the cause-specific mortal- serves as a suitable basis. The populationthat is ity rates for the various industrial groups. 'the sullject of the study can be printed out from Census population statistics. In Denmark, the CFA provided it cambe defined by means of population and housing censuses are tradition- the data contained in this register. ally taken every 5th year, and accordingly a DatimarksSiatistik and Socialforsknings- population census should have been taken in '4instituttet(The National Instituteof Social 1975. Research) currently conduct various sample sur- Because of the cost and inconvenience tothe) veys on the basis of the CPR, such as suryeysof population, the census wasnot taken. Instead Danmarks Statistik's labor force that are accom- planiing data corresponding to population cen- plished by mailed questionnaires sent to 11/4-5 sus Itatistics were obtained from existingregii- percent of the population. The samples used for ters. theie surveys are persbns selected by their dates The reference date of these statistics is July of birth, vid the selection is made solely on the 1,1976, and the basic source is the Central basis of the PN's. The questionnaires never ask Population Register. The population is grouped for background data that can be obtained from both by various geographiCal criteria, for ex- the CPR register. ample, parishes, according to the CPR's address Health statistics.Linkage techniques using register, and by-urban areas as defined by, the the PN are employed increasingly in the health. United Nations. Maps from the various munici- area. The scope for such research is verybroad palities combined with poputation data from the as evidenced by an analysisof the recurrence of CPR are used to,..code urban areas. Through a legalabortionsamongDanish womenin complicated linking processinvAlving several tax 1975-77, which was based on the Abortion registers and a Central Register of Enterprises Register and compiled by the National Health and Establishments, information about an indi- Service. Here, the PN's are used for linking to vidual's' occupation and industry can be pro- create a history ,of each woman. Another survey vided. Finally, the various items of information thatisbeing prepared concerns,the use of have been combined to produce information for medicine and drugs. Prescriptions for medicipes family nuclei. Thit combination was accom- must always contain the PN of thepatient.iIn plished through address data and family refer- thissurvey,allprescriptions ,issued on one ences from the CPR. particufar day have been registered on magnetic Sample surveys. As indicated, existing regis- tape,therefore, the use of medicine can be terdata can be usedin the production of distributed according to the social circumstances population, social, and health statistics. of the patients. The prescription tape then will This method Of production is, of course, far be linked with personal data on income and from satisfying all statistical requirements. For . lbccupation, on the basis of tax registers and the example, satisfactory information about factors Central Register of Eqerptises and Establish- of employment and their effect on the state of ments. health cannot be compiled solely 6n the,basis of data already registered. A closer analysis of this FUTURE PLANS REGARDING THE subject would require the collection of special UTILIZATION OF REGISTERS information/from the population, perhaps from special group4 of the'population. This collection The future development of population and may be done by interviews or mailedquestion- social statistics will to some degree be deter- naires, and it could, moreover, be necessary to mined by the development of the registration carry out clinical and laboratory tests.The cata systems. Moreover, the requirements of statisti- collection should be based on some form of cal production are also taken into consideration randomly selected representative samples. The wheriaorganizations and extensions of the .selection of a representative sample would re- registeis are being planned. quire a complete listofall persons in the During the next few years exp'ansions of the population ultder review, and therefore, the CPR regisvr systems will make it possible to comply

21 29 s. with urgent needs of the users of statistics. Two Enterprises and gstablishments contain informa- of these expansions will follow. The chain of tion only about enterprises that aye legal busi- registers important for population statistics has ness units comprising more than one establish- recently been cxtended by a new link: a national ment. basis register df all buildings and dwellings is The expansion, which is taking plaCe largely about to be established. This register will con- for statistical purposes, will makc it possible 'to taininformation about:among other things, specify the number Df establishments 'withina location,size,age, ,andinstallationsof the certain geographical area. Moreover, it will bc dwellings, and the dwellings will be identifiable possibletocombine information aboutthc by means of a specified address code. The location of the establishment and thc residcncc address code system constitutes a national and of the employee to determine thc cxtcnt of unambiguous system of identification of all commuting. Also, the location of employment buildings and dwellings, and the codes will, in can be used as a basis variable in population and thesame way asthe PN's, be usedinall socialstatistics.Finally,thepossibilities of pertinent registers listing a residence in the CPR analyzing the population by industry, will br aswellaslistinga business establishment's improved. These improvements a& to be real- address in the Central Register of Enterprises ized by a project based on data from the tax and Establishments. authorities' register of employers' notifications The address code system will make it possi- of employee's wages, salaries, taxes paid, and ble to combine information about dwellings and ofher information. residents. This combination means that the data This register contains referenccs partly to about dwellings can be used as background the employees by their CPR numbers, and partly variables in the various population statistics, for to the enterprises by the employer code num- example, heal statistics. Statistics o ellings bers, but the project requires ?that individual and reside tsre, moreover, essential o public establishments beidentified. At 'presentthc and private planning, and traditionally such sta- project isstill in an initial stage but thc first tistical data could only be obtained in connec- statistics compiled will be for 1979. Thc out- tion with the regular population, and housing come of this project is essential to fulfilling all ,censuses. In the future, analyses can be made the possibilities of the register-based census of morc frequently and can be more current. 1981. Denmark is obligateii to produce both popu- In conclusion, with the existing registers lation and hOusing census statistics in 1981, and many possibilitiesforConducting itnportant it plans to collect the statistical data from the statistical surveys have not yet becn explored. registers directly without inquiries to the popu- Some of the surveys discussed can bc eNpected lation; however, it may be necessary to supple- to elicit new statistical projects. For' instance, ment the census with questionnaire surveys thebasicdata developed forthe study of based ort samples regarding data that cannot be occupational mortality (employment and death retrieved from the registers. statistics) can also be used for other special The other planned expansion of\heregister studies uch as the mortality of selected popula- system is registration of establishmenls, such as tion groups. locol business units. The existing Registers of

22 0 3 0 CHAPTERV THE POPULATION REGISTRYAND THE USE OFPERSONAL IDENTITY NUMBERS IN ISRAEL.

INTRODUCTION 3. Date and Place of birth The 'State of Israel was established May15, 4. Sex 1948. The fledgling GovePnmentimmediaiely 5. Ethnic group took steps to conduct a census that, in addition to enumerating thepopulation, was to serve as a 6-: Religion voter's register in the elections of January1949, 7. Personal status (single, married,divorced, and was also to be the basis for a.new permanent or widowed) population register. The census wastaken on .NovAmber 8, 4948, under the directionof the 8. Name of spouse CenOal Statistical Bureau in cooperationwith 9. Names, dates of birth, and sexof chil- the Ministry of Interior. At the topof each dren census form, a personalidentity number of six digits was printed; this number becamethe PN 10. Past and present nationality,nationali- pf the persons registered in the census.Eventu- ties ally these forms were transkrred to localregis- 11. Address tration offices throughout the country,and they became the "Register of Residents." 12. Date of entry into IsrW A card index for each person wasalso main- 13. Date of becoming a resident tained. Every resident aged 16 and overreceived an identitycertificate; a child under 16 was en- In addition to the previous informationfrom tered on the parents' identity card..Each card census forms andthe Ordinance of 1949, data was identifiedby the same number that appeared was compiled onoccupation, additional profes- on the censusforni. Immigrants and persons sions, -employers, language in daily use,and born aftet the census were added tthe Register ability to read and write.. of Residents and Nye erodewith identity Those responsible for the establishmentof numbers. If a persop emigrate or died, hisform the Central Population Registerin 1948 prob- was removedfrom the subdistrict office files to ably did not completely .understandthe impl-i- a central removalsarchive. In Februaty 1949 an cations and pbtential of the registration system Act, the Registration Ordinance ofInhabitants as an administrativetool, It was initially con- of 1949, legalized the census registratiOnforms, ceived as a device for the identificationof and the Population ''Registry. Law of 1965 individuals, for the enumeration of the popula- established the' present basic registration proce- tion, for the distribution of food, andfor the duress avoidance of fraud in. elections.Other registers According to that law, the following items established by the early Government wereorigi- shall be included in the Population Register: nally completely independent. Theseincluded RegistersofBirth and Death (Ministry bf 1. Surname, first name, and previous name* Health); Record of Immigration,Naturalization,. Immigration); and 2. Name of parents and Passports (Ministry of Records for Food Rationing (Ministry of COin- more, the Israeli system is too well established merce and Industry). A resident sometimes had for any fundamental changes to be considered. to apply to four or five different agencies to obtain documentation and assistance. In 1952 the Ministry of Interior transferred DEVELOPMENT OF THE EXISTING PN information from report forms to keypunch cards. One index' used was the PN. In 1966, the As stated earlier, the first PN was printed on content of thei cards was transferred to magnetic the 1948 census forms, and the first number tape. U9der both methods, the Population Reg- issued was 000601. To avoid an excess of high ister wits used more extensively as a tool for numbers, a series pre5x in the form of a letter public information and administration. In 1952, was affixed when the six-digit number would no for example, almost all of the functions of the longer suffice, and a series prefix was used for Ministry of Immigration were combined with, special populations (e.g., an "a" series block was those of the Population Register. The re'sident's given to new immigrants who moved directly to visa form became. a card in the population immigrant homes from a ship). The new series register system, with the-PN as a link. In 1953, began with 'a 000001" and continued thrOugh the function of issuing ration books to the "g." When the punch-card system was intro- population was transferred from the Ministry of duced,. theletter prefix was translated to a Supplies and Ratibning to the Population Regis- numb& "a" became "1." Thus the original 4tter Office, Department of Interior. Again the PN, six-digit number became a seven-digit PN. Many was the link. The censuses of 1961 and 1972, errors. oceurred as a result of the duplication of which also used the PN, referred to the register numbers. Because some .agencies did not rou- to checli on the complete. enumeration of the tinely use the prefix, duplication was sometimes population. Various Government agencies pres- appalling. To minimize error at the time of ently use the PN as an identifier in their records input into the computer, the Ministry ofInterior systems and have. a tie-in with the Population decided in 1977 to add one control digit to the Register. PN using the Modtelus 10 system. At the same time an additional digit was added to the PN to enable tht numbering system to accommodate A NOTE ON THE ISRAELI USE future needt above. 10_ million. Thus the PN OF A NUMBER SYSTEM today is composed of nine digits, including one .check digit. Several ebuntries, mainly in Europe, had -reservatiOnsabout using a personal identity number that reminded them of wars and concen- USE OF THE PN SYSTEM tration camps, and, therefore, thought that they should not attach a number to a person but Israel has been interested in developing a rather use only his name. It ié a paradox that the computer terminal network for the extended Stateof Israel introduced a Person-Number integration of statistical systems, but this devel- system first. It has now lren in use °for 30 yers, opment has been delayed. Only one terminal and is generally accepted, possibly "because the exists at the Department of Interior that links resident's name is primarily used with the PN to their mechanization unit (an inpUt-output unit) assist in identification and integration. with the computer at the Office Mechanization Adoptinganother -number consisting of Center for answering various location requests, meaningful digits, such as the birth date that is for correcting errors, and for clarifying 'input. used in the Scandinavian countries, has. been Current updates from the Central Population suggested." However, as an immigration "State, Register are provided to the following agencies: Israel would experience many errorsin the registration of divergent peoples, who register in 1. The Ministry of the Interiorfrom the haste and cannot give their birth dates. Further= main office to the field offices 32 24 k 2: The police : this data within a few days ofocCurrence to begin yaymen ts. 3. The Ministry of.Defense and all branches In October 1975, a joint taskforce was of the Ann)/ created to recommend a common'birth form 4: The National Insurance Institute and a,coordinated flow process. Theoriginarof the prepared form goei to the registration center 5. The' Bank of Israel of the Department of Immigration andRegistra- 6. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs tion, which is now set up for combinedcoding with the Central_ Statistics- Bureau,and for 7. The Ministry of Health' grocessing by the OffiCe MechanizationCenter. 8. TOe Ministry of Education The first copy goes immediately to theNational Insurance Institute and is designed toprovide 9. The Ministry of AbSorption the basis for the payment ofthe children's the 10. The CentralStatistic's Bureau allowance. The second copy is given to parents for entry on theidentity certificate by 11. The Broadcaiting Authority an employee atthe immigration and registration 12. The Parliament's Elections Committee office (in the parents presence).The third and last copy remains at the hospital. 13. Allthemunicipalauthorities inthe This process is to be experimentallytested, country and after a trial period the Ministryof the Interior and the National Insurance Institute Most of the previously mentioned agencies ,may share the codingand punching. The Minis- alsogetconstant 'Periodic ,servid'e and also try of Health and theCentral Statistics Bureau various ad hoc services. will get a copy of magnetic tapes withdata from the Ministry of the Interior. Both theMinistry of Health and the Central StatisticsBureau 'will Registration of Births then release the birth notificationcopies and in returnwillreceivetherequired dataina An .example of the process by which integra- 'Ministry of the tion of data between ministries is achieved can mechanized form from the Interior. The preparation at theMinistry of the be demonstrated in the efforts to standardize birth the registration of births. The problem was one Interior that is necessary for issuing a of timeliness and duplication, and various. re- certificate,and the proceis of entering the porting forms were used for this effort.The information on the parents' identitycertific(ates Ministry of Health, on the basis of the hospital will remain as they are. patient forms for mothers, punched the data of the newborn children in the hospitals. Italso Voters' Ledger prepared immunization cards that were sent to The vOters' register both for theP4liament the t4wborn child's parents. The Ministpyof and for local government is based on thePN and Interiorregistered newbornchildreninthe the records of the population registryigy neces- population registry, prepared birth 'certificates, sary, the Ministry ofthe Interior can prepzire an and entered the childrens' names in the parents' updated voters'register 2 months prior to identity certificates. The Central Statistics Bu- Parliamentary elections. According to law, elec- reau handled about 100,000birth forms vd, tions in the State take place every 4 years,but coded, punched, and absorbed theinformation there are cases when, for various reasons,they for its own purposes. The National Insurance are held earlier. Institute received ongoing reports of births, but independehtly gathered personal data about the , ^Border Control Card File (Personal) 'newborn children and their parents .to pay the.: childrens' allowance to families beginningwith The border control card. file was under the the birth oi the first child. TheInstitute ne sOie charge of the Israeli police, but has now 0

V. been transferted to the Department of Immigra- .Population Register and. deterred:some agencies tion 'and Registry. It has two types of handwrit- from participating in the system. All the dupli- ten cards, one 'concerning the traffic of tourists Cate numbers were removed from the computer and the other the traffic of residents. and half of the owners of these numbers were A mechanical parallelization betwea this summoned to the register offices to eliminatoe cardfileand other collections, such as the the duplication. Some residents refused to co- population registry collection or a Collection of operate, and others protested, so this. problem individuals insured in the National Insuran4, is has not been completely resolved. impossible for obvious reasons. The plans forAhe . The typeof control digit used by the mechanization of the border control system o Department of Interior was introduced because were completed recently and their execution has other ministries had already adopted that sys- just now begun. The integration between. the tem. A better system than the Modulus 10, Irith border control collection and other registers can different Weights, could have been introduced be developed with the PN a's the linking factor. but 'would have disrupted the existing systems Obviously this integration applies only to the and would, have been costly. However, a reliable part of the records that concerns residents. control exists because the digits input program checks the 'initials of the person's name as well as the PN. PROBLEMS AND DIFFICULTIES Another problem has emerged with the t WITH THEtSYSTEM addition of the control digit plus an additional digit to provide a number over 10 million. All Israel's peculiar position as an immigration theretistrants (about 3,500,000areinthe Stale with a heterogeneous population creates a Population Register) have. to be notified that situation where initialregistration can be a they have a control digit. Notifications were source of error. Registration takes place at three planned for the time of elections. All other main centers: border posts, hospitals, and regis- Ministries that haver a relation to the system and tration offices. No uniform authority supervises have used a seven-digit format also must be all registration. Border guards, for example, are made aware of this change. Extensive informa- under the jurisdiction of the police as well as the tional activities, arrangement of joint seminars, Department of Immigration and Registration. At and periodic checks are planned to cope with times, the bulk of the border registration must this problem. be carried out atnight under duress. New V immigrantsareoftenincapable, because ,of 4 languagedifficulties,of answering questions- PLANS FOR THE FUTURE properly, and therefore, inaccurate information can ,be provided and must be corrected later. Israel plans to attain the-kilning objettives Letting immigrants enter without the PN assign- ment was considered but was vetoed because within the next 5 years: new immigrants, require many vitalservices imnfdiately and these.servics are programmed' 1, Expansion of integration, with all the Governnient agencies that handle popu- through the numbering system. A more confusing problem that still exists is lation mattefs as well as with all public in 'the construction of the PN. The series letter institutions that requiTe data 'from the system. This expansion will involve max- prefix led to the duplication of numbers. Also, 111 when the system of data handlink was changed imal deelopment of the data base to from a manual to a mechanical card index in include all information in' the personal 1952, the series letter was translated into a digit file and any additional data. extending the number from six to seven posi- 2.AddiAion of the control digit to the PN's tions. The phenomenon of duplicate PN's for a, onallpertinent dOcuments and the time damaged the reputation 9f the Central elimination of all other types of numbers

26 34 in public administration (such as Army 'thatAli(be nnecta to a central serial numbers). computer. 3. Devetopment of uniform stand for 5.Establishment of a central archive. alldocuments, including both rmat and content. Israel also expect.s to mechanize the handling- 4.Establishment of a network of terminals of passports, develop a registry of firearms, and in all immigration and registry 'bureaus generally improve the quality of data.

35 27 A

CHAPTER VI ADVANTAGES AND LIMITATIONS OF THE PERSoN-NUMBER SYSTEM

Although the advantages of 'using a single lation registration systems. Nor should there be referent, a PN number, in statistical computer any change in the three digits ofthe supple- systems may be readily apparent, and such a mented birth number. The last digit, the check system is in practice in business, banking, and digit, is-only altered if one of the other digits is s. Government enterprises, the advantages, as well altered. as the limitations, as they areunderstood by the The check digit .can be constructed accord- countries in this study, should be examined. ing to various systems. A system is chosen by weighing the pros and cons. orvarious factors, such as theoretical safety, ease of use, availabil-1--, SWEDEN ity of technical aids and so forth. The Swedish system was designed to facilitate the establish- , The PN's are now being used extensively in ment of the register on the ADP. The system, Sweden as a means otikentification in the na- which was phnned in the 1960's, was based on tiona1 registration and taxation systems, in the the data registration equipment then available rest of the public 'sector, and in the private via keypunch cards, when every position was sector. The use of these numbers is widespread costly. This fact must be considered in any because they have con§iderable advantages and assessment of the checking systesn when one few teehnical disadvantages. Their greatest ad- digit is chosen for the PN. vantages are stability, theoretical safety, ease of A PN is easy to remember because people use, and case of memorization. Thedisadvan- usually remember their own date of birth, and tages are that they are not entirely self-checking they only have tolearn four other figures. (reversal is possible), and they are carriers of Moreover, information is available to aid the formation. memory. The high stability of P over time is The disadvantage of Sweden's PN system is fierent in their constituent pts. An individual that it is not entirely self-checking. Because of is assigned a number at birth or, in the case of an the advantages this disadvantage istolerated. immigrant, at his first contact with the ptspula- The check digit does- not single outail the tion registration authorities, and this number reversals of digits within the number. However, remains unchanged throughout his life. A num- such errors most likely are only minor-in extent. - ber can only be altered if it is discovered that Probably these errors only play a minor part errors occurred when it wasassigned, for in- when compared witli the errors occurring in the 'lance, if more than one person wasgiven the practical use of PN's in the various registers, Fame birth number, or if the wrong sex digit was such as manually copying errors. Instead, the added. Changes in the year, month, or day of-an essential question'is whether or not it is prefer- individual's birth are eXtremely rare except for able to have an open information-carrying nunt- immigrants from countries with-imperfect popu- ber, as Sweden does now with the date of birth,

28 or a system that does not disclose any informa- and enterprises having identificationnumbr-si. tion. These data are collected through surveys, cen- The PN's are firmly integrated in various .suses, and administrative sources. Thebasis of official registers throughout Sweden; many peo- the s'ystem is the CPR and the Central Register ple think that- the use of these numbers has of Enterprises and Establisliments. . become too prevalent both in private and in official registers. Many, too, dislike the fact that these numbers reveal a person's date of birth. DENMARK This fact is one disadvantage of an easily run Experience from the first decade with the system: A system with a number that does not CPR numbers confirms that the use of one disclose any information is a much more ardu- common and accurate PN adminis-. of ous one to administerespecially the process trationhighlyfacilitatesthe -aniinistrative assigning the numbers. .Furthermore, such a work, especially in connection with EDP. The system would not have been possible at the end administrative registers can 'communicate by the of the 1940's when the present system. was CPR- numbers, and thereforCa given personal started. data item, for example an address, only needs to be recorded at one place in the total register NORWAY system. This communication also ensures that the best and most updated data can be Used by The main reason for the establishment of the all registers. For the same reason, the distribu- PN system was a need for simplified routines tion of public registration records from several concerning reports on personal matters that authorities is only a matter of practical organiza- were sent to the public administration. The tionbecause the data about the individual system has solved this problem. The establish- technically can be combined with great ttcu- ment of th PN system created other possibili- racy, although they are obtained from different ties.First,T ithas improved the quality of registers. However, the highly efficient use of personal characteristics in two ways: by increas- the registers results in a fear of registration; ing' the value ,pf every characteristic and by therefore, the problems concerning accessibility shortening the time from the occurrence to the of data are accentuated. recording of an event. Second, it has provided Because the PN contains information about -the potential for the linkage of different public the date of birth and sex, it is relatively easy for registers.Finally,ithas increased the data the individual to remeMber itrather than a available for useinstatistics, planning, and randomly assigned reference number that would research. have to consist of at least seven digits to include The establishment of the PN system is in the entire Danish population. By thee input of part the establishment of a statistical file system. data into the various register systems, the che k Such a system is based on the idea that data digit of the CPR num)Der is automatically, co from different units can be stored in such a way trolled, and therefore! it is a safeguard aga. st that they can be extracted when needed. This errors both in the writing and the registration.of storage is possible with the identification num- the number. bers. The Tole of the register in this system is to The use of CPR numbers has had a very 'assign and maintain the identification numbers. great impact on the production of different By 'these identifi)ation numbers, information forms of population statistics. Coordination of from different sources may be linked together. the various fields of statistics into one consistent Furthermore, individuals may be followed_ over______system is now possible. The concept of popula- time. tion statisticsocan be used as a common frame- The Central Bureau of, Statistics is building work for references of .social statistics, incom upastatisticalfilesystem weherethefiles statistics, health statistics, educational statisti contain all data about persons, establishments, and soforth. ,Four 'data-processing modules

29 a personal file that contains a registration card --intended for common use in the various population statistics are the following: with his_ personal characteristics: surname, first name, parents' names, date and placeof birth, 1. .A module foi distribution of the popula- nationality, religion, ethnic group, personal sta- tion by residence. (Any geographical tus, names of spouse 'and children, date cif entry division may be applied4 to Israel, and PN. The personal files are arranged 2. A module for distribution of the popula- by consecutive PN's. A. 'resident who changes his tion by industry and oceupation within a address from one subdistrict to another can have specified period (1 year). his file transferred. A xesident is bound by law to give notice of any change regarding Marriage, 3. A module for assessment of the-size of divorce, change of address, and so forth. -If a the population at any given.time. resident leaves the country for good or has,died, 4. A module for distribution of the popula- his file is transferred from the living archive to tion by family nuclei, such-as groups of" the removals archive. An obvious advantage is persons consisting of married couples or that comprehensive centralization, makes it pos- singlepersons with children, .ifany, sible for a resident to get service:at one agency staying at the sameaddress. tand theoretically within a single day. He can go toone of the immigration, and registration The possibilities of coordinating population offices and accomplish the following: give notice statistics are still far from being fully utilized, of a change of address, request a change of but this utilization clearly will result in a much name, give notice of a changelia his personal better service to users of the statistics. status, have a newborn child registered,retniest a As previously mentioned, the use of CPR -, birth certificate, get an extract from the register numbers and administrative registers has meant of residents,request a document of\ Israeli an improvement in therationalization of Many nationality,requestand renewapassport surveys. Consequently, it has beenpossible to (transitcertificate),getinformationabout reduce the processing period and publish statis- another person's address, check whether he or 4t tics that arp more current than those previously his family members appear in the voters' regis- published. This ability has resulted in a much ter, and request a death certificate for a p e\srson betterseriricetothe usersespecially tore- who died in the country. The system hinge on searchers and planners. To conduct surveys an identity certificate with an identity riurnber based on questionnaires sent to a representative whose use has' become well rooted in public sample of a population group is efficient becse administration. In Israel amidentity certificate is the CPR, on which the samples are based, is a fusion of the simple identification cardsyst6 frequently updated and contains data of a ve and the family book system, which is best high quality; of special importance are the qual- known in Western European countries. The ity of address data in the CPR. These factors re- identity certificate contains not only informa- duce the risk of, nonresponse which is a source tion relating to the owner of the certificate, but of error in all questionnaire surveys, so contains information concerning the spouse The CPR .number has made possible certain a d any children who are still mimrs, andthis types bf siudies that were previouslyconsidered in irmation is based on the PN with notations. impracticable, such as life-cycle analyses where How ver, with the advanftes of this system cer- /the development of a given population isfol- tain didvantages have surfaced: lowed during a rather long period. This study is previously described in the correlation between mortality rates and occupation. 1. Genèially the resident can get service only thesubdistrictof residence ISRAEL where thersonaI file is located. Every resident in the State has at the office 2. Considerablèiigration of files occurs of immigration and registration in his subdistrict because of c ge of address from one

.0"

A subdistrict to another, with all the un- pansion will be achieved by openikg desirable implications. every personal file with PN's, cothparing itscontent with the content of the 3.he dependence on the personal file for computer record, and correcting and r ering service necessitates maintain- completing the computer recard. The ing many archives that use a great deal of record then will contain all 'the -current expensive room, encumber work, and data in thefile, and thus the great require considerable manpower. dependence octthe personalfile -will 4. The collection ofresidents is keptse- automatically be discontinued. , quentially in the computer on magnetic 2. At the end of this operation all personal tapes by consecutive PN's and, therefore, fileswillbe transferred to a central it isjmpossibIe to carry out updates or archive, because use of the files will be to pull out occasional data, and all the reduced to a minimum. material in each run must be viewed': 3. A magnetic data pool (central data base) 5. When the computer is inaccessible, many will be established to replace magnetic alpiiabetical, and identification lists must tapes with sequential records. The main be kept for ongoing clarification and capacities of the base will be location. a.Constant updating, even relatively 6. The inability 'totrace family relation- small numbers of records inthe ships is a disadvantage because the exist- collection, efficiently ana inexpen- ing registration system is an individual, sively rather than a faniily, system. b.Pulloutby various keys through 7 When the content of the cardfileis standard service programs and .pull- transferred to the computey and not all out programs that will be specially of the information kept in the fileis prepared for different purposes entered on the record in the computer, theni\ris impossible togive 'service c.Change and expansion,of the content directly from the computer, and this of the iegisters without-the need for problem incl.-eases the dependence on the large-scaleplanning and program, Personal file. ming 8. Integration with other systems is diffi- d. Connecting with a communication cult to achieve. network without the need for large- scale replanning (preparation for an 9..Documentation is often prepared manu- on-line) ally and is not efficient. The establishment of a data base has the 10. Advanced methods in the area of auto- following advantagesr matic data processing developed in the last decade have not been adopted. ,1. The ability to furnish institutions arid individuals with one-time or periodic In 1970 the Ministry of the Interior iniliateJ information concerning.artious groups an extensive .survey to propose a moreadvanced and sections, in accord with their re- method for maintaining an automatic popula-" quests. tionregistry based on a PN, which would remove the. difficulties and adapt the system to 2. The ability to issue documentation that modern methods. The- following decisions re- presently, is given manually and is based on the personal file directly from the stilted: computer. Such documents include iden- 1. An effort to expand the recor,d :in the tity certificates, birth certificates, and computer will beundertaken: Pus ex- passports. .,

39 , 6. S.The capacity for jntegration with exter7 Mechanization Cower eir to anotnef cerr. nal systems by the use of terminals. ter, and therenciering of 'services directly , . 4. The establishment of a network4i termi- to the public through thelwiirminals at nals ftom the subdistrict bureaus of the any office regardless of the permanent Ministry of the Interior to the Office place of:reside.nce of the applicant. e

I t 4

4 4

1,4

ge.

32 V-

CHAPT CONFIDENTIALITY ANDPRIVAY I. \ The confidentiality of personal information game eminent. Feqwere vviced that the new c,pntained .in public records systems and the system, with the rid spread of eiDP records, protection of individual privacy are matters of would lead to an Undue infrinernent of privacy. concern in eyery country.-These subjects are As an outcome of theseliscussidins,?committee discussedatallinternationalstatistical and was appointed to study the' prOblem; itt report popfilation conferences. The introduction of the led Vo the passing onhe Data ,iVt anci, to the Otnputer and the use of a PN as a key to related .establishment of a sttpervisory authority, the files createdj ! ome public' concern, that these Data Inspection Boara, which cape fully into mechanismsay make invasion of privacy easy. operation on July 1, 1974. Most governments have ,taken steps to insure The Data Act protects the ilindivklual from confidentiality and privacy in the handling of any ."undue infringemen't gersonal integrity" public records and tapes by establishing legal that may ensue from the increasing lis4 of ADP lirnitations and procedures. Access to and con- in Rersonal registration.' XCedding to the Data trol over records are :strictly limited in most Act, no ADP register, tli e,or other record countries. Some western countries that,would containing information aboutan may fihd it relatively easy to deyelop PN systems be established or kept wilhOut a spocial permit have refused to do so. In one country, the from the Data Inspection Bbard. Thé latter must recollection of invasion during war time is, a examine each register from/ the vieYipiaint of . factor; in another,. an extensively integrated personal integrity, before deciding whether to numbering system was debated in Parliiment for' grant a permit. When' doing so, the board may more than 5 years because legislators werenot-- also impose, rather far-reaching directives am- satisfied -that privacy could be maintained. The cerning how the register shodld be kept and idea that stringent control over the population is managed to obviate any undue invasion of the an aim of such a system is refuted by the fact privacy.If thok 'responsiblefora register that the numberingestems are most advanced infringe these directives, then their permit may in the Western democracies. This report provides be withdrawn by the board, v . ,a description.of the situation in these countries. Special rules apply to registers e'stablisied by governmental Or parliamenlarydeCiiion.. The Data Inspection Board has no jurisdiction Over SWEDEN such' registers; howeyer, it must always,rnonitor the establishrnettt of such registers and, as staied Foorn 1947 to. die end of the 1900's't1y in the preamble of the Data Act, its viewg "Must general public in "Sweden accepted the use of be givin ,serious consideration. The board'is also PN'sr, deeming them to be a useful and eaSily to.insttrethat thedirectives issued by the

.1* manageable instrtinelht by which individuals Government or by Parliament regarding the could be .safely identified. However, durin)g. the managernent of.registers are complied with. taking of the general Census of Population and. For example, the Cancer-Environment Regis- Honsing in 1c170, ,the question of privacy be- te is, in principle, available on application to all

33 scientistsoand investigators interested in cancer procedure has to some extent becomc a reality research. The use of the register i;, however, because the county administration now supplies 'regulated by the Data Act with the directives data to other computerized registers. Howiever, 'issued by the Data InspectiOn 13bard, by the the bill was not passed; Parliament, v with the SecrecY Law pertaining to the right of access to problem of privacy in mind, deemed it advisable public records, and by an agreernent between to wait for the passing of a Data Act. the National Board of Health and Welfare and In 1976, Parliament passed ill setting up a the Natioal Central Bureau of Statistics. Direct reduced central register of individuals, called the responsibility lies with a special committee for Coordinated Register of Individuals ao Ad- the Cascer-Environment Registry, appointed by dresses (SPAR). Parliament also establishga what the Director General of the National Board of the register was to contain and that* its ,contents Health and Welfare. were not to be disclosed without the permission The Data Act is divided into five sections. of the Data Inspection Board. The SPAR register , The first section provides definitions of terms is updated from information held in the county that occur in the text: No mention is made of administrations' notification tapc of population pers.:Trial registers as such except for an example registration data. The register must be updated of an ADP register containing personardata that with these particulars once a week. Further- can be linked toindividuals identifiable either more,theregisteristo contain particulars by their name, by a PN, or by some other concerning assessed incomeo and the ownership means. The second sectioncontainstprovisions of property. These particulars should bc updated concerning permits, directives relating to the once a year. If a person does not want toreceive purpose and content of the registers,and data advertising matter directlyc the register is toge that may only be registered in exceptional cases. marked to this effect. Thes--SP*R'register is now The third section'contains provisions relating to being constructed andis expected to. be in theobligations of those responsible for the operation in the spring of 1978; it will be devel- registers of individuals. Specifications are stated oped and operated by the National Data Centre regarding how, an's:1 wlien corrections are to be for Administration Data Processing (DAFA). made in the registers, how 'a registeredpersoii, is In the discussions of privacy during the past to be infamed, .if he requests it, of the facts few years,the use of. PN's has been a f(T1 iegistered about him, and whert.data 'are not to question. Although these numbers facilitate in- be made available. Another provision states the tegration between different registers, the exist- obligation of tho'se responsible not to disclose ence of such an efficientkey to all kinds of information in the registers. The fburth section information involves great hazards. It would be isdevotedtotheData- Inspection Board's illogical to eliminate an efficient tool in public controlling and supervisory powers. Finally, the administration just because this tool is open .to fifth section contains rules about any violations the danger of. misuse. The question theretore

. of the 'directives issued by .the'Data Inspection remains: What precautions must bc takeri to Board ,and the cOnseqUences Of any violation prevent misuse? Privacy problems must obvi- such as penalties, damages, or fines. . ously be handled by including adequate safe- A bill propokng the establishment of a CPR. guirds in ADP systems, as established in the in Sweden was submitted to Parliament in 1972. Data Act and in the regulations issued by thc The main, purposes of a CPR were to facilitate Data Inspection Board. Technically,,PNcan bc information storage in records by various sectors prevented from acting as keys to registers when of public administration,' and to reduce thg special signs are given to prove the legitimacy or storage needs ko a minimum.. Furthermore, the an inquiry. Another possibilityis releasing only use of PN's would makeiteasy to retrieve the data required specifically in an inquiry. Con- information from the CPR. Consequently', the sequently, only selected categories of inquiries number of particulars such as name and address will be able to obtain., information from the could be reduced in other registers. In fact, this registers, and to some of them only limited data

el 34 1 2 will be mule available. Certainly, the use of PN's be available, but thereare some exceptions in Sweden will continue, and the increasingly regarding information, that can do harm to the widespread problems concerning privacy will not person or his ifamily.Exceptions are also -stated prove insurmountable. for registers used only for statistics, research, '.and general planning. The Central Bureau of Statistics is concerned , NORWAY about data protection. This question not only refers to the CPR, but also to the entire activity For many years, the Central Bureau Of of the Central Bureau of Statistics. Therefore, Statistics has been colkcting information about stria rules for data processing, data storage, and itatistical file data use have been introduced. -Only selected persons, and is now establishing a 1 systemthatcontainsseveralregisters. The groups of persons can require physicaldata, and amount of collecteddata about perspnsis no single person has access to theinformation. steadily' increasing. In addition, the lotal regis- During the year, the Central Bureau of Statistics tration offices keep much information about receives many'inquiries for use bf personal data. persons stored on magnetic tape in regional These inquiries are forwarded from private and computer centers. The increasing amount of public institutions, individuals, research workers, data about persons has brought the problems of and many other _sources. The Central Bureau of confidentiality into focus. These problems are Statistics!collects data pursuant to a special sta- no longer only technic'al problems,but are also tistical actnd an act of,population registration. political problems. In general,- the Centtal Bureau of Statistics is In1975,areport was presented by a bound to secrecy about the data. Howevs4er- committee formed to study problems of "pri- sonal data given to the CPR according he vacy" in connection with the establishment latter act, can be delivered to other data users. and use of public administrative data banks and Pursuant to the act of personal registration, thee statistical data archives.4 Another report con- public authorities (but not all public institu-. cerning personal data in private enterprises was tions) have the right to obtain personal data presented in 1974.5 In June 1978, a Data needed in their work. Alsv, many research insti- Act was" passed, but has not yet been enfoiTed. tutions, private banks, insurance companies, and Chapter 1 of the law states that the regulations soforth, under certain conditions, get birth refer to personal registers and use of personal numbers, names, and addresses from the CPR data in central and lcçal governmental services, fortheiremployees,policyholders,and inprivate enterprisesn associations, and in customers. 6 other institutions. The local registration offices keep informa- . According to chapte2, a Data Inspection- tion about persons on written cards. However, - Board shall be established as a supervisory au- the rules for handling the. data are strict, and the' thority. The Data Inspection Board shall, among staff must sign a declaration of secrecy. The reg- other things, establish and keep a list of all.per- istration offices have the authority to approve sonal registers for which a permit must be ob- somestandardized use of personal data by the tained. As stated in chapter. 4, personal registers public authorities. The Central Bureau of Statis- using ADP records cannot be established with- tics has given detailed specifications for imple- ` out special permit from the King. In addition, a mentation, and° has established a list of local, permit is necessary for other personal registers, regional and central authorities that are allowed whet) they include data such as race, political or to rece've such data. The Central Bureau ofSta- religious views, health conditions, and sexual isticshthe responsibility to inspect the regis- attitudes. trItionot\,ices, and routinely does so to make In chapter 3 general rules are given regarding surethatallcomply with theregulations. the rights that persons have concerning informa- The Central Bureau of Statistics has made an tion stored about them. Generally, all data shall agreement with the regional computer centers \

35 ; about storing, use, and destruction of personal supplyingnecessaryinformation' tothcm, data. This agreement includes the conditions including the PN. In (he. case of widespread that were established to allow the regional com- opposition,the'existenceof, the population puter centers to handle the data. Thesecondi- 'registers could be threatened. However,only a tions comprise the, rules that the computer cen: few, ifanY, exaMples of abuse in connection ters must follow to protect data and prevent with the use of registers are known. abuse. The computer' centers register all use of In the last few years a certain reluctance personal data. The agreement makes it possible against registration has been observed, although to inspect the centers and all their personaldata the manifestation has perhaps not been so pro- routines. The staff at the regional computer cen- nounced as in other countries.. ters alsb must sign a declaration of secrecy. In 197I,the Danish Parliament enacted two bills on reistersone concerns Government and municipal registers. The Public Registers Act, which became effective January 1,1979, clearly DENMARK stresses therules of nondisclostire -that were already in effect as well as the rules of accessi. During the period since the introduction in- bility of register data. Moreover, it provides the 1968 of the PN's, the public debate concerning establishment of a Register oard, that shall registration of personal information and safe- supervise the registeh and approve regulations guard of privacy has gradually become intensi- concerning their operation with.a special empha- d. Occasionally, the problem is presented as if sis on safety/measures for -the protectionof init.vere a Matter of being for oragainst PN's. formation. The bOard has the 15ower to exercise This attitude, of course, is misleading, because control by -direct inspection otthe installations the problems concerning the protection of per- where the -registers are k 611 t. ,The board must sonal data predate establishment 'of the CRP. be notifies in each case of m ing of registers The introduction -of the PN, however, has made and the board may establish the, conditionsof the operation of registers more efficient, and the how such matehings shall be executed. accuracy of personal identificationhas made it Although the primary aim of, the AO is to easier to combineinforniatiqn so that many regulate the use of registers in public administra- items of information about an individual.can be tion, the regulation also applies to registers that integrated. .are uscd only \for statisticaland scientific pur- As indicated, only public authciities are en- poses. However, the -rulesapplying tosuch. titled to doand knowledge of the PN. Accord- .0 registersaredifferent. Thus the linkig of ing to Danish Law the public authorities must information fromdifferentregisters can be not 'give any p6sonal information toindividuals administered without notification to the .board or business. establishments.However, a person when thc purpose is strictly statistical, and the can, within certainlimits, insist on knowing /ight of a person to know what the registers hold what information is registered about him and on him -is notextended 'to statistical registers. has free access to the local population registers The reasonisthat statistics cannot thrcatcn for information about the addresses of individ- privacy, because information abou4t. individuaN uals that the inquirer can identify. The registers, cannot be identified from thestatistical tables, are not permitted to pass onindividualized in- and because individualinformation on statistical formation on a large scale to private persons. .registers must 'notbe .used kor administrative

The staff within the public administration and in purposes. . theF..DP centers, dealing with information for Thc problem of protection of personal infor- the Public, are subject to the general rules of mation has long been recognized Ainiportant to nondisclosure. the production of statistics. The population's If the itoblic authorities use information on confidcncc that information given for statistical the register in a way that is considered by the purposes is not disclosed topublic authorities or population as a violltion of the right of integ- to individuals .is vital tothe activities of Dan- rity,,this use may result in an oppoSition against marks Statistik. Consequently, information must

36 4 hes. treated as confidential and 'must be 'safe- -1\)%eyondaperson'iOnswers to the legiti- guarded so that no information that may be " mate questions. related to individuals is published. 3. No particulars in addition to'those men- The practice of Danmarks 5tatistik has been tioned will be noted in the data base, most restrictive, implying that no identifiable consequently no possibility exists for information may be transmittedeven to institu- passing it to any external element. The otions solely concerned with research york, With data bhse must therelPre not contain the new Act, this practice has become part of informationsuchashospitalization, Danish Law. The Act makes a concession for mention of a criminal past, or data about research and statistical productions that is not the resident's income. This information previously made by Danmarks Statistik. With the board'i consent in each case, data from is essential to other agencies and shOuld only be filed in those agencies. The data statistical registers may be transferred to another base will update only the entries in the public agency that will use the data for research other agencies. purposes only. The debate on the question of integrity in Whatisthe common practice for giving connection with the PN has only in one case had information from the ,resident's collection? Sec- consequences that were detrimental to the pro- tion 29(b) of the Population Registry Law duction of statistics on social benefits. Undet states: "Any person may receive information TheSocialAssistanceAct(Bistandsloven), concerning the name and address of any other Danmarks Statistik must cpllect data. identified person registerM in the registry." This Section by the social clients' PN's)from the municipali- then states that, without examining the purpose ties. A few local governments have refused to and without permission from the person regis- give the PN's because of gieir clierfts' right to teed, another party may be given information anonymity. This refusal is not acceptable to the that appears either in the voters' register, which government asitconflicts with the Act of is open to 01, or in any telephone directory. Danmarks StatistilL the dispute has not yet However, section 29(c) of the law also states: been concluded. The problem may be solved by "A person who is prima facie interested may the previously mentioned Register Act, also receive information concerning the date of birth and particulars of other registrations deter- Mined by the regulations of a person registered ISRAE L in the registry." Recently additional particulars that may be disclosed were determined by regulations that were approved by the parlia- The Ministry of .Interior.is acutely aware of mentary committee of the Constitution, Legisla-. the current opinions as well as fears concerning tion, and the judiCial Committee, and they are: the danger of violating the individual's privacy parents' names, place of birth, personal status, by "overintegration" when important concen- sex, ethnic group, date of entry to Israel, and trated information is located at one center and PN. Information about religion and nationality might be available to unauthorized persons who was not included and must therefore not be will use it in a harmful way. Therefore the disclosed. Ministry established these conceptual and practi- A serious restriction in this section states cal limits: that information Can be given only "to one who is prima flacie interested." The Attorney General 1. The data base must not contain informa- has clarified these words indirectly by deilciding tion'beyond personal logistical data spec- that the information should not be given if it is ified in the Population Registry Law, needed "for ideological, political, or commercial 2. An employee of the Ministry is forbid- purposes.". This statement, implies that eveiy den to ask questions beyond the 14 legitimate purpose is' permitted. Therefore, in- questions in the law and is absolutely formation can be given to Government agencies forbidden to record anything in the file and publicinstitutions such as local Government

37 r. 1 5 institutions, the National Insurance Institute, proper execution-of theirfunctions and researchinstitutions, and universities to aid for a legitimate purpose. This approach them im the execution of their duties provided isvery useful becauseitreleases the that they need the information, state why it is public agencies from .the necessity of needed, and sign a declaration affirming that updating the logistic registration particu- they will not 'pass the information on to others. lars, -therefore, they can devote them- Itv summary, information is not given if the selves more efficiently and economically information is requested for a p'olitical purpose, to their #ssigned tasks. For example,the for a business purpose, or for a purpose that Ministry of Health, which is interested in opposes the public interest(e.g., solicitation not a followup ofpeople who contracted to enlist in the Army). cancer, will get reports aboutthe facts of their death without the-Population regis- . In addition to the preceding instruct' very strongmechanical security system at the try employees knowirk why the infor- Offite MechanizatioCehter ptevents any at- mation is needed and what u'se is made tempt to obtain information from the data base. of it. Pullout and acceis are permitted only by a code 3. The authorization for giving information (key) that is constantly replaced and is only can be given by the Ministerof Interior known to a restricted numberof employees. or the Director of theMechanization Even the Minister bf the Interior does not know Department only, Information cannot be the code. obtained without an explicit authoriza- In brief, the rules are: tion by one'of these two. 1. The population register is "sterile" andit 4. The extent of information concentrated, may contaih onlythose particulars of the process of channeling infounation, registrationthat arespecifiedin the and the particulars that'may be disclosed Population Registry Law. .are, determined in thelip and its regulations. 2. Information may be channeled to other systems, either governmental orpublic, 5.Technically, an almost hermetic security only after those who request it have system guards' against extracting infor- demonstrated that it is required for' the , mation from the computer..

8 CHAPTER VIII HERPERSON-NUMBERSYSTEMS IN THE WORLD TODAY

Sevleraltypes of national data systems use The PN is the identifier in the Central Popula- PN's aidentifiers. Some countries have systems, tion Register, registers of the tax authorities, similato those in the Scandinpvian countries and tegisters of the National Pension Institute. although they may not have the same extensive The data collected by theY Central Statistical appii4itios. Developing countries, despite the Office are used only for statistical purposes; lack df advanced subsystems (e.g., vital statistics strict rules of confidentiality are guaranteed by systes), skilled manpower, adequate financing, the law. and cther resources have adapted the PN system to m, et their needs. Some PN systems apply. France only 'to a. particular agency or operation (e.g., Numbering systems for individuals as well as vital and health statistics, national insurance,so- for industrial and commercial organizations have 'al security, and pension fund), and others are been in existence in the French Republic for still iri the planning stage. Examples of some of many years.In91941 the Demographic Service, these systems follow. See table C for items in the forerunner of the Institut Nacional de la Person Numbers in national data systems. Statistique et des Etudes Economique (INSEE), introduceda13-digit number that included eodes for sex, month and year of birth, and ADVANCED SYSTEMS \ geographic codes for place of birth. This system has formed the basis for an individual identifica- Finland tion index that is kept current by reports from PN's have been used in Finland since 1964; civil registration offices. In 1970, the records in 1970 the structure was confirmed by law. The were placed on computer tape; two checkdigits program, the Personal Itlentification Code (PIC), were added for 'computer adaptation.Local' is administered by the PoPulation Register Cep- hdministrators send notifications of birth and 'ter. Thissystemisused primarily .by the death as well as changes in civil status to INSEE, administrative and statistical agencies of. the and consulates advise INSEE of the deaths of Government and in a limited way in the private Fre ch citizens abroad. The new syitem became sector. The PIC is particularly useful for the\opational January 1, 1973, and is extensively Construction of population rqgisters and for \used by the Social Security Administration, the record linkage of various types. \Election Registration, the Ministry of National The PN is a 10-digit figure: 6 birth digits, 3 Education, and the Ministry of Econ6my and Oserial digits'o, arid 1 check digit. The PN has been Finaneb. the identifier in the population census,' house- ,The computerized system has permitted the hold surveyS, examination registers, university development of new research studies. One study studefit registers, manpower surveys, as well as on occupational mortality is based onpopula- in judicial, criminal, election, and vital statistics. tion samples from the censuses of 1954 and Table items in Person Numbers In planned or operational nationaldata systems

Place Date of birth Check 'Random Serial Sek of Couritry Total number digit number Day Month Year birth

General population systems umber of d Igits

Europe: 2 3 1 0 Denmark 10 2 2 3 1 Finland 10 2 2 2 2 3 2 Franca 15 2 Federal Republic of Germany 212 2 2 2 2 2 2 kf'celand 9 2 2 2 8 Netherlands 310 3 2 Norway 11 2 2 2 2 2 54 Portugal 11 2 2 3 1 Sweden 10 2

South'AmorIce: 8 Argentine 5(2) 2 5 2 72(2) Chile 2 2 3 Colombia 11 sl3 2 5 4 Peru Uruguay is *,

Asia: 39 1 Israel 1 92(2) Jordan 13

National health systems

2 3 3 United Kingdom 10 2 2 2 3 1 1. Australia

Other

2 3 United States 1111

1Sexindicatekcontrol or check digit. regional number, and 1 digit for the initial letter ofthe 2ThiS special Person Number, for insurance purposes,contains 2 digits for' given name. 3Random numberused. 4Sex indicated in serial, number. 6Serial number includes code for nationals and foreigners. 6For check.purposes, 2 digits may be Added for year of birth and 1digit for isex (1male, 2female). 7Contaifta codes for province of birth and legal office. or registratiod office). 6One additional oVgit (3) indicates Peru; 4 digits representlocation of registration (department, province, 6Two digits represent parents' place of birth. registration, and quarter of 10Five letters and 3 numbers (LMNOP 123) include codes forsubdistrict of" birth, year of birth registration. digits for country and State of birth, 2digits for year 11The U.S. birth number, used by State vital statistics regisjration offices, has 3 following birth number; of birth, and 6 digits for State file number. Abirth in North Carolina in 1980 could have the 132-80-000428 The next two digits represent the State of NorthCarolina (}2), in a system that begins The first digit represents the United States (1). ThaVale additional codes for *with Alabama (01) and continues through Alaska (50) andHawaii (51). The District of Columbia is 08. Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

1975. Another study directed bythe National the population drawn from the census of1968 Institute for Health and Medical Research,the and followed up with the census of1975) forms Institut National de Sallie et RechercheMedical, aspecial sampling frame for socioeconomic follows tuberculosis 'and cancer patients'xecords studies. Changes in occupation, marriages,births until death. A special file of personsborn on of children, deaths, and other events areinte- October I, 2, and 4 (appro*imately 1 percentof grated khrough linkage by.means of the PN.

40 , I 8

1 4 The PN is also used for compiling statistics registration unit but that year, the individual be- of annual wages by wage records sent from came the registration unit and the population employers to the Social Security Administration register in' all municipalities contains a person's and linked through the PN. This compilation is register consisting of standard Personal Cards done for a sample of wage earners that includes' (PC). The PC's are issued at birth and immigra- all persons born in October in the even years. tion, aqd follow the person while in the country, -The- advantages of the system, according to throughout his lifetime. All changes id civil sta- the reportslie in the easy access to files, the tus are recorded on the PC. and the card of a availability for statistical or accounting tabula- head of afamily is used jor a survey of the tions, the certainty of identification of docu- nuclear family. After death, the PC is removed ments, and the cost-effectiveness. from the register and placed in a central file kept' by the Central Bureau of Geneology. Because Iceland the municipal files refer only to the resident population, special procedures exist for the re- A population register, The National Regis- moval of emigrants, and the addition of immi- try, is directed by the Statistical Bureau of the grants. The efficient operation of the system has Republic of Iceland. This register, which became provided the Netherlands with timely manual operative in 1953, is based on a PN provided ail\data compiled by the Central Bureau of gratis- birth. This number ongmally consisted of eight tics, such as total population; population by age digits, but in 1964 it became a nine-digit number and sex; and population by sex, year of birth, when a Modulus 11 check digit was added, with and marital status. six digits for the date of birth, two serial digits, Becausethe municipalities varyindata- and one check digit. handling methods (some have computers, and The PN has been principally used as the others use punchcards .or metal plates in addi- identification code number in the internal operation to hand-administeredfiles),efforts have tionoftheregister.It has not seen used been made to standardize and improve tech- extensively for/administrative or Other purposes. nical processing.In 1979, a standard municipal In 1966, a registry of all school children-was computerized sy)lem was operating in more established (a general continuous .pUpils regis- than 200 municipalities. A Central Population ter). Register is planned.A bill will be presented Another numbering system isalso in use, to Parliament at the end of 1979 and will pro- based on the Nafnn-ummer or Name Number, videfor, among other things,a PN. Various related to the name of a person. Introduced in t4es of personal numbers had been discussed, 1959, it is given to every individual,who reaches but for explicit technical and political yeatsons, age 12. The Nafnnummer, 'seven digits plus a including the matter of confidentiality, random check digit, indicates the person's place in the numbers have been recommended. alphabeticalsequenceof the population by Actually, such numbers have been in use nanle. A seven-digit Nafnnummer is sufficient since 1968 by those municipalities that com- becausethepopulation is approximately pu.terized their population registers. They were 220,000. Internally, the Nainnummer is used for furnished by the central Government for com- linking persons in the same_ family. puter use only, and consist of eight digits and two check digits. In 1979, the number appeared The Netherlands on the PC's of more than 8 million persons, but In the Netherlands a 'system of continuous it was used only witllin the municipal admini- accounting for population statistics was intro- stration, and was not known by any individual. duced in 1850 and used the census of 1849 as a The new legislation will enable the Netherlands starting point. The system is decentralized: each to produce population and social statistics more municipality keeps its own population register efficiently. under the Netherlands Inspectorate of Popula- At present, statistics on nationil social insur- .tion Registers. Before 1940, the family was the ance, sickness benefit funds, and hospitals do

41 4 not use the Municipal numbersin their records. added. This information is updated periodically If a central system is introduced, the use ofthe throughout the lifetime of the individual. Also, number may be Extended to these records. beginning in 1968, all persons born before that year, on reaching 16 yearsof age, are issued a PN and DNI. By, 1984 this procedure will be DEVELOPING COUNTRIES completed and in that year the entire population will be included in the unified PN system. Developing countries, in coping withthAn- Foreigners may also be given PN's when they creasing problems of data management, have become residents; a minimum . of 1 yearof considered establishing national data systems for permanent residence is required.If they,become program planning. andGovernment administra- Argentinian citizens, then the standard PNand tion. Many countries have shown a specialintetr- DNI are issued. est in the PN systems of theScandinavian Under the)law, the purpose of thesystem is arNd have sent administrators and to provide information onthe country's human countries, also statisticians to study them. resources' for defense and development: In Latin America, legislation establishing anticipatedisthe eventual development of a national PN systems has been passed in some continuous population register. countries, but the concept has not had broad application, nor has it led to any extensive inte- Chile aata from subsystems. The PN is fre- Qgra ion of Althoughrecognizingthenecessitythat quently used as a means of identification in reliable information must flow to Government addition to an identity card, photograph, and agencies for development and planning, Chile fingerprint. It ialso used as a file number on was also concerned aboutthe duplication of 'various administrative records, such associal idministratiye information systems. A national security and civil registration_records. integrated population information system invol- ving two factors Inps planned: (a) theassignment Argentina of a unique number under the .Rol UnicoNa- A population numbering system has beenin cional (RUN) to each person and (b) the crea- operation in Argentina for a number of ytars. tion of computer files or population data banks Under this system eaCh person on reaching 18 known as the Registros Nacional de Poblicion years of age was registeredand issued a seven- or (RNP). The informationsystem would stand- eight-digit number. Males were given a Libreta ardize identifiers in all institutions such associal de Enrolamientoand females were given/a security and pension institutions, the tax author- Libreta Civica that contained theirregistratien ity, and the electoral register. Recordsfrom the number. In 1968, theregistra\tionage was Civil Registration and the Identification Service lowered to 16 years of age and the documents would be incorporated, and the files wouldbe werc unified in a CertificadoNacional de Identi- Icontinually updated by information onbirth dad. In 1970, the name of the identification death as well as reports of changes incivil document was changed to DocumentoNacional status. de Identidad (DNI). Most of the adult population had already AlthOup this activity iocused on the con- been issued, an identity number in the tax sys- tinued registration of adult persons, acorfe- tem under the Rol UnicoTributario (RUT). sponding program in 1968 began the registration which consisted of seven digits and one check identifi- of all persons at birth. Every newbornchild is digit. The RUT number is still used for each cation in tax offices and in Govcrntnent agen- issued a PN of eight digits. At 8 years of age of person's DNI is updated with a photograph and cies. Since 1975, a new identity nuinber, a PN fingerprints. At 16 years of age, the jndividual's 11 digits and 2 control digits, is issued atbirth life4Those signistureis recorded and information Such as and follows a person throughout his marikal status, occupation, education, languages, Born prior to 1975 will continue to use the old involVernent in the practical arts and sportsis ,number. The new number consistg of twodigits

46. 42 5 0 for province of registration, legal office, and tern for possible adoptionin their countries". year of registration; and afive-digit serial num- No plans to link records exist.The nuniber- ber, plus two check digits. The basic filewill ing system is used to checkfiles and correct contain the PN (RUN), name, date of birth, sex, them, to prevent duplicationof the records, and identityumber, and possibly nationality and to calculate vitalstatistics estimates.. Hopefully, bear the,PN. residence.he new number is to be used as the .in time, all civil records will standard 4lentifier for all records related to t- health, ed cation, and welfare, and as aresearch Peru tool in so oeconomic studies. To , obtain demographic data to planproj- Bet een 1976 and 1978, Vie massive project . ects, allocate resources,and evaluate _programs, of assigning numbers to the unhombered popula- the Governmenta-Peru in 1975established the tion was undertaken. In 1979, an administrative National Statistical System (INE)designed tO reorganization of the Civil Register and Identifi- gather, tabulate, and \analyzestatistical data. cation Service was initiated.. The possiblerevi- Furthermore, INE was Oven the4esponsibility sion of the numbering system is woeof the for developing and improving thecivil registra- topics for consideration. Furthermore, a plan to tion/vital statistics system: FortechniCal support create a new central file usingthe RUN number, INE requested thi collaborationof the Office of which will integrate data from all separatefiles International Statistics at the U.S. NationalCen- related to the Social Security System, wasready ter fp- Health' Statisticsthrough its Vital Statis- for Implemention in 19Z9. It will gointo ef- tics Improvement Project (VISTIM).A Model fect with the-reorganization ofthe civil registry VitalStatistics System was implemented in service. demonstration areas thrbughout the country. Among the new techniques used was the event Colombia identification number (EIN) assigned to all birth In the Republic of Colombia, theNational certificates. With the development of a PN,INE Registration Service (SNI) of the NationalAd- plans to add a check digit. n ministrative Department of Statistics(DANE) The EIN is uniquely constructed. Thefirst was established in1968, The SNI instituted a digit (3) represents Peru as defined by aninter- new Civil Registry Systemin 1971, and the key national convention on vital statisticsnumbering, to this system was aunique numby issued at cosigned by Canada, Peru, and theUnited birth. The SNI considered using a uniqueiden- States. The isext four digits reptesent alocation tifier for an individual and his socioecononlic code 'identifying a registration office(including a characteristics. This identifier, could helpsolVe department, province, and official orreOstration some registrationproblems and also could elim- institution). The 'next two digits represent year inate, duplication among vriouscivil administra- of registration: The serial number offive digits tions. The number consists of 1 1digits: p digits that represents the birth numberfollows. With to indicate year, month,and day of birth),1 digit the check digit the PN will consist of13 digits. .to indicate sex(1-female, 2-male); 3 digits , to Presently, the total number of digits appears indicate a serial number, plus 1 checkdigit. flexible, and depends on the actual numberof The number was first assigned only tobabies digits used to indicate the place ofregistration born in Bogota; then it waf assigned tobirths in and serial number df births. Becausethe system other large cities as well as other areas.The is still evolving a final'appraisal cannot bemade. present file contains 5million registrations of The major objective is to, introducesuccessful the 25 million citizens ' of the country.The aspects of the model systeth intothe National registration number covers documentsrelated to .Vital Statistics System. birth, death, marriage, identification,and, driver's licenses,-Various other procedures, arepresontly Uruguay under study. Officials from otherLatin Ameri- a PN system can countries,notably Ecuador and Costa Rica, In 1974, Uruguayestabthed study the sys- based on a. complicated coded combination of have recently visited Colombia to .s

s 43 seven digits and four letters. T e first six digits Under the new system, a PN is issued at .constituted the birth date, and te seventh digit birtkand remains with the individual through- was a code indicating sex and citizenship. The out gis life. This number appears in the family four letters were the first initials of the first and register, in the Family Book, on the I. D. card, family names. Two check digits make the total and onallofficial documwts. The 13-digit 13. Obvious problems with this complex identi- number is constructed as follavs: fier existed, and in 1978 Uruguay simplified the 4 system by developing a random PN number of 2 digits 7- place of birth seven digits plus one check digit. This number is 2 digits parents' place of birth issued to all persons over age 12. Provisions are made for the registration of aliens and emigrants 3 digits year of birth and for all persons entering.the legal registration 1 digit sex (1male, 2female) age. Each registered person is jssued an identity card containing the PN, name, residence, civil 5 digits serial number Vf, status, date and place of birth, a photograph, and fingerprint. The cards xe subject to renewal As an example, the number 12219552 45894, at 'ages 20 and 60. would identifya woman born in1955 at The system is alpinistered by the National Amman, whose parents were born at Naour. Pre- Directorate of Civil-Identification under consul- sumably, she was the 45,894th child born in

tation with the Honorary Technical.Advisory Amman in that year. The PN has bedi used for Commission. The number is now largely ustd for administration and identification and, therefore, personalidentification and recordkeeping in has improved civil registratipn. The developmerit public and private institutions such as hospitalil of a more complex numberiVig system is not con- and schools, and will .be extended to national templated now.' administration. Registrationat death is recorded by the PN, and registration at birth is recorded by the parents' PN's. When the system is fully HEALTH, SOCIAL SECURITY, AND operational, the record linkage potential will be ' INSURANCE SYSTEMS explored to develop an alternative tb thecensus National health records systems using a PN of population; While developing the PN 'system, as an identifier exist only in a few countries and Uruguay also established a Register of Enter- are highly restricted. Consideratio'ns of privacy prises and Entrepreneurs identified by unique and confidentiality limit access to hospitaLand and permanently assigned numbers. physicians records even for statistical research.

4 Two systems of special interest are the fully op- Jordan erational system of the Unitied Kingdom and the Perhaps the most recent application ofa PN proposed system of Australiiit, in a national system is jn the Hashemite King- United Kingdom dom of Jordan. .,," \ . The Department of Civil Status registers Jor- The initial dse of a PN ,in the United King- danians in a speial "Civil Register," which is a dom coincided with the wartime establishment family regis,t,er based on the head of the family. of the National Register in September 1939. The det0921'ed registration form provides informa- After a census enumeration of, the population, tion ouallti family members, inchiltling educa- identity cards were issued to all recorded per- tion', occupation, and marital status. Irisaddition, sons by the Central National Registration Office. eaCh head of the family receives a 36-page Fam- To record births, a unique code of fonr letters 1ly Book where every member has a page to and a serial number (1-500 in each subdistrict), / ecord personal details and changes. When a fain- was developed. The system of national registra- / ily member reaches ar 16, he is provided an tion ended in 1952, but prior to that, the Na- identity card that facilitates travel in Jordan and tional Health Service (NHS) needed an identify- *the Arab common market countries. ing number for each patient and the obvithis

44 52

A choice was the National .Registration code.In Other countries 1965, a new cods was established,which con- OthereTaited nationalnumbering'systems sisted of five letters and a birtb register entry exist, mostly in the insurance and social security number. Three letters indicated the subdistrict systems where a personal accountnumber ap- of birth; the 'fourth letter, the year ofregistra- plies only to (or primarily to) the records ofthat ,,. tion (M=1979); and the fifth letter,the quarter system. 'Of registration. 'The last is useful becausebirths Czechoslovakia.An Insurance Number is are collated and,indexed on a quarterly basis. used, which refers to the beneficiaries file in the The birth number serves only as a file num- pension administration and consists of nine dig- `ber in the NHS and it has no statistical usebe- its, six for birth date and three for theryserial \cause it is a key to any form,of general purpose number. populationregister.Considerations of confi- Stvitzerland.An Insurance Number :is also dentiiklity impose restrictions on use outside the used for systems such as registration, tax., and NHS. sitstem. sickness funds. The number has 11. digits: 3 for the surname, 2 for the year of birth, 1 for quar-. ter of the year of birth, 2 forday of birth, 2 for Australia \, serial number, and 1 check digit. Austria.A Social Account Number of 10 The Australian "experience differsfrom that digits is implemented: 3 are for the serial num- in other countries because discussionof a number, 4 for birth day and month, 2 for decade, bering system began with a plan todelie1op med- and 1 check digit. ical record linkage throughout the country.A United States.A Social Security Account working group of the Computer Committeeof code of nine digits is employed (three for area the Hospital and Allied Service! AdvisoryCoun- number, two for group number, and four fOr cil, selected in 1971, establishedcriteria for the serial number). In some countries, the codes for identification key to medical records,studied socialsecurity and other accounts could be identification systems in various countries, made made into national population PN's, but the ex- a computer analysisof existing files, and arrived tension of the existing numbers might be diffi- at a combined Letter-Numberindicator. This in- cult. In -the United States, for example, an esti- dicator consisted of the first four charactersof mated 4 million duplicate accountnumbers the surname, the first tWo characters ofthe first exist. forename, the second initial, sex, dateof birth, and a check digit. Plans to establish aNational OTHER16TIONAL SY$TEMS Population Index for identifying populations at The PN system has been discussed exten- risk, which would be located at a NationalIndex sively,On all regions of the world. Japan tested Centre, were recommended but were notim- several types of PN's in urban areas but did milt plemented. apply them nationally.in the Federal Republic Changes in Government in 1972 and1975 of Germany, an extensive system was proposed and in the health insurance programsaltered the but was not approved by Parliament.Inquiries plans regarding medical recordlinkage. Health regarding the PN systems and their applications insurance prior to September 1976had been to health services have beenreceived, by the Na- 'administered by a single Governmentcommis- tional Center, for Health Statistics from stich provided this in- sion; after that, private insurers diverseareas as Thailandand Brazil. In the surance. Thischange required 'some form of United States, discussion of a national number- unique-identifier, and a health insurancenumber ing system has been wiping for almost 40 years. of 10 digits was chosen. This numberconsisted of six digits far date 9f birth and gex,three Federal Republic ofGermany digits for a serial number, and onefor a check Interior digit.However; continuingcontroversyhas In 1971, the Federal Ministry of the had submitted to Parliament a draft of a Federal delayed implementation. It

45 Registration Law that provided for the introduc-. Portugal

tion of a uniform, personal identification num- y . ber. Parliament refused to introduce a PN for The nUmbering system of Portugal is admin- registration and administration. istered by the Bureau of National° Registrattan, A special personal timber, an "insurance of the Ministry of Justice. Sincrc 195.7.:, a perma- "number," has been issued to members of the nently assigned number has been issudd sequen- statutory old-age insurance group as well as to tially and placed on identificatiocar d s. The employees, entitled to obligatory health and/or identification, cardis not manda tory for the unemployment insurance (wage earners, salaried population; however, it is required Tot atlendiug employees, and persons undergoing occupational high school, obtaining a driver's -or a. marriage training), who are not subject to obligatory old- license, and declaring taxes. It has-been custom- age insurance. ary to obtain a card after age 12. The/identifica- a This special 12-digit PN is composed of tion,. number is used for many administrative regional number for the old-age insurance funds purposes such as taxcontrol, health care and (2digits), the date of birth (6 digits), initial insurance, and social security. t` letter of the birth name,(1 digit), thessrial num- The Na.tionarRegister was established by law 's ber and distinction by sex (2 digits), and the in 1973. The objective was to create two central check digit (1 digit). 'This PN is used only for tiles, the Central File of Population and the Cen- maintaining accounts of file insured, handling tral File of brganizations, The population file queries within the scope sof statutory 'social in- was to be based on a new hational numbcr pro- surance, and compiling- sta,tistics on employed vided after birth, which would consist of 11 dig- persons. its; 6 for date of birth:4 for the file number (the' Protecton regarding privacy and confiden- 'first included a code for Portuguese nationals . tiality is established by law because the secrecy and foreigners-, and the list distinguished men provisions of the Social Code permit the disclo- from women), 4nd 1 checLdigit. The implemen- sure of microdata to third parties when either tatiOn of the population file was suspended after- the individual agrees to or when legal obligation the, revolgution of April 1974. The new Constitu-: demands disclosure. Other agencies of social tion of thePortuguese RepubliZ of April 1976 is administration receive microdata subject to the very, explicitin the .use of Person Nu,mbers:. secrecy provisions within the scope of admini- "Citizens shall not be given all-purpose national strative assistance, that is, when data are neces- identification numbers" (Article 35). The Gov- sary for the completion of their tasks. A linking ernment is preparing drafts for a law onpriyaey. of statutory old-age insurance data with other The Constitution is to be, revised in 1980, and registers or files has not been provided for, par- apparently the Central File of Population Swill be ., ticularly because other institulions (e.g., health discussed. In the meantime, the file on .civil insurance) have numbering systems of their own identification and the number on the identifica- fortheir members and the linking of data is tion cards are being kept in force. doubtful under the data protection law., The Central File of Organizations includes enterprises, associations, agencies, official bod- Japan ies, 'and self-employed individuals. A nine-digit In 1971 and 1972, Japan tested various number (type of Organization, serial number, and check digit) is the key to this file. types of PN's in five different cities. One PN was. a 10-digit code, including 1 check digit. Another was a 14-digit number with the first 6 numbers United States representing the birth date, the next 4 representing the area of residence, the next 3 repre- The concept ,for the PN system ofiginated senting a serial number, and the last one a check during World War II when State and local vital digit. The PN activity never advanced past the statistics offices were deluged with requests for testing stage. certifications of birth, 'fOir proof of citizenship

46 54 and age. In 1941 at the urging of the Association out of sight until the midsixties. In 1966, the of 'StateandTerritorial HealthOfficers' StUdy Group on Record Linkage of the U.S. a (ASTHO), 'a Vital Records Commission was Public Health Conference on Records and Sta- 'appointed to investigate the system and suggest tistics recommended that the birth number, as improvements. The .*Commissionsuggested a.-suggested in 194'8, be placed on all State emptifi- fixed identification number for each person'in a cates by January 1, 1968. TheU.S. National national registration. In 1947, the Council of -Committee on Vital, and Health StatistCs also Vital Records and Vital Statistics suggested that endorsed State use of the number. Although. the each State adjust its birth certificate number to "universal" number 'now appears on State birth conform to a uniform numbering plan for the certificates, the Federal government does not- entire country. A unifprm number in three seg- use it. Inquiries concerning it havebeen made by mentsthree digitsfor country and Stare of the 1Social Security Administration. States use birth, two digits 'for year of birth, and six digits the number for filing and for exchanges of cer- for State file numberwas stiggested. This sug- tificates between States. Fof the U.S. birth num- . gestion was cleared with the ASTHO and was ber, or any other PN,.9,,become truly opera- subsequently ratified.by 35 out of 54 registrars. tional, a Federal law esfitlishing.it throughout For various rea.§ons, the concept dropped the countrjr has to'be passed by the Congress.

V9%1

4 .

55 47

4 REFERENCES

l Central Bureau of Statistics:Divorces 1971-197.3. tion of [personal] privacy.) NOU 1975:10. Oslo. Wu- Statiitiske Analyser No. 16. Oslo. Central Bureau of Sta- istry ofJusticei 1975. _ tistics, 1975. 3Ministry. of Justice:Persondata og personvern(Per- 2Central Bureau of Statistics:Occupational Mortality sonal data and protection of prlvacy.) NOU 1974:22. 1970-1973.Statistiske Analyser No. 21. Oslo. Cyntral Oslo. Ministry ofJustice, 1974, gureau of Statistics, 19f6. 6U.S. Department of Commerce, Bure,au of the Census:World Population 1977: Recent Demographic 3Central Bureau of Statistics:Occukational Mortal- ity.RAPP 79/19. 0+. Central Bureau of Statistics, Estimates for the Countries and the Regions of the World. 1979. Washington. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1978. 4Ministry of Justice:Offentlige persondatasystemer 7United Nations:Demographic Yearbook 1977. New og personvern (Publicpersonal data systems and protec- York. United Nations, 1978. ,

41,

48 4.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aurbakken, E., and Bjerve, P..J.: The role o gis- Dunn, H. L.: ltecord linkage. Am. J. Pub. Health ters and the linking of data from differentources. 36:1412-1416, Dec. 1946. Bulletin of the International Statistical Institu e, Vol. Dunn, H. L.: A national identity registration system XLV, Book 3, 1973. pp. 169-184. to synthesize' social statistics. Estad.: J. Interam. Stat. -Bacci, R., Baron, R., and Nathan, G. Methods of Inst. XI(40):605-615, Sept. 1953. record linkage and applications in Israel. Bulletin of the Federal Security Agency:' Historical Review of the International Statistical Institute, Vol. XLII, Book 2, Birth Number Concept. National Office of Vital Sta- 1967. pp. 766-7785. tistics, Public Health Service, Washington, D.C., 1948. Bakketeig, L. S., and Hoff an, H. J.: Perinatal Hansen, M. H.: The role and'feasibility of a national mortality by birth order within colqts bascd on sibship data bank, based on matched records and alternatives. .size. Brit. Med. J. 2:693-696, 1979. Report of the President'S Commission, Washington, 'Bakketeig, L. S., Hoffman, H. J., and Sternthal, D.C.: Fed. Stat. 11(1-61):1971. P. M.: Obitetric servfce and perinatal plortality in Nor- Hoffman, H. J., Bakke teig, L. S., anti Stark, way. Acta Obstet. Gynecol. Scand., SuiSpl. 77, 1978. Twins and perinatal mortality: a comparisbn between Bakke teig, L. S., Seigel, D. G., and Sternthal, P. M.: 'Angle and twin births in Minnesota and Norway 1961- A fetal-infant life table based on single births in Norway, 1973,- in Twin Research:. Biology and Epidemiolo6. 1967-1973.Am. J. Epidemiol., 107(3):216-255, 1978. New York. Allan R. Liss, Inc., 1978. pp. 133-192. Bolander, A. M.: Linkage of census and death rec- Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudel ords to obtain mortality registers .for epidemiological Economiques (INSEE): Automatisation du repertoire studies in Sweden. Excerpta Medica: Proceedings of the d'identification des personnes physiques. Paris. INSEE, 11th International Cancer Congress. Florence, Italy, Conception Generale, Feb. 1970. 1974. Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Central Bureau of Statistics: The Use of the Nether- Economiques (INSEE): Le numero national d'identite lands System of Continuous Population 'Accounting for description. No. 160/429. Paris. INSEE, Jan. 19, 1971. Population Statistics, by 'J. C. van den Brekel. Voorburg - Karlsen, K., and Skaug, H.: Registers in the Gentral (The Hague). Department for Population Statistics, Bureau of Statistics. Pub. No. 22. Oslo. Statistiske Sen- 1976. \.. tralbyra, 1968. palenius, T.: The invasion of privacy problem and Lunde, A 5.: The birth number concept and rec- staibtics production-an, overvieiv. Stat. Tidsskr. No. 3: ord linkage. Am. J. Pub. Health 65(10:1165-1169, Nov. 1975. 213-225, 1974. . . Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadis- Lunde, A. S.: National data systems and record link- tica. (DANE). Manuel de' instrucciones para effectuar el age.InternationalStatisticalInstitute:Contributed registro de nacimiento. Bogota. Direccion General dc Papers (Warsaw), Sept. 1975. pp. 536-541. Procesamiento de Datos, Servicio Nacional de Inscrip- Lunde, A. S.: Problems in the Establishment, of tion, Registro de Personas, 1973. National Data Systems. Proceedings of the Social Sta- Departamento Administratfvo Nacional de Estadis- tistics Section (135th Annual Meeting, Atlanta), Ameri- tica (DANE). Ventajas del nuevo sistema de registro can Statistical Association, 1975. pp. 544-547. civil. Bogota. Servicio Nacional de Inscription, 1973. Ministry of Interior: Population Register of Israel. Department(Of Commerce: Computers, Health Rec- Joisalem. Ministry of Interior, 1972. ords, and Citizen Rights. National Bureau of Standards Nathan, G., and Baron, R.: The Israeli Population MonograPh 157. Washington. U.S. Government Print- Register as a Framework for Sample Surveys. Interna- tional SymposiuM on Automation of Population Regis- ing Office, 1976. tgr Systems, Jerusalem, Sept. 25-28, 1967. Deikartment, of\ Health, Education, and Welfare: Records, Computers,Vind the Rights of Citizens. DHEIr National Institute of Statistics: INE-VISTIM Vital Pub. No. (OS) 73-94. Washington. U.S. Government* Statistics Impraement Final Project Plan. (translation from Spanish). Lima. National Institute of Statistics, Printing Office, JulY 1973. \ Desapie,J.:Organismee:L'INSEEentreprend 1978. d'autom tiser le repertoire des personnes. Econ., Stat., gordbotten, S.: Purposes, problems, and ideas re- No. 10: 9-71, Mar. 1970. lated to statistical file systems.Btaletin of the Interna,

49 tiohal Statistical Institute, Vol. XL11, Book2, 1967,Lpp. Statistisk Sentralbyra: Fetal and Infant Mortality 734-750. 1969-1972. Statistical Analyses No. 415. Oslo. Statistisk Ohlsson, Merging of data for statistical use.. Bul- Sentralbyra, 1975. letin of the International Statistical Institute, Vol. XL1I, Tryggveson, R.: Population Registration and Its Use Book 2, 1967. pp.,750-764. for Statistical Purposes. Internitional Symposium on Selmer, E. S.:Registration numbers in Norway: Automation of Population Register Systems, JerUsalem, some applied number theory and psychology. J. Roy. Sept. 25-28, 1967. Stat. Soc. (Series A), 130, pt. 2, 225-g31, 1967. United Nations: Methods Of Collecting, Organizing, Statistiches Bundesamt, Federal' Republic of Ger- and Retrieving Social Statisticsto Afhieve Integration: many: Setriftt: Personen Kennteichen. Bonn. Statis- Report of the Stcretsary General. (E/CN.3/516). New tiches Bundesamt, 1972. York. United Nations Economic and Social Council, Statistisk Sentralbyra: The Central Registea of thew, 197-8. Central Bureau of Statistics of Norway. WorkineTapers Widen, IS: Registretover femtondefodda. Stat. of the Central Bureau of Statistics, Oslo, 1974. Tidsskr., No. 5:366-372, 1969.

50 5 8 APPENDIXES

CONTENTS

-I. Construction of the PN in Sweden .. % 52

II.Construction of the PN in Norway 53 . ..

III.Structure of the PN in Demriark ... , 54

IV. Constructio4 of the PN in Israel 55

V.Items in the Swedish Cancer-Environment Register 56 1 . VI.Items in Studyl"Outcome of Successive Pregnancies for Norwegiamen 1967-1976" 57

, VII. Population, Birth, and Death Data y 59

APPENDIX FIGURE

I. Construction of Person Numbetfor a male born on June 3, 1936: Denmark 54

APPENDIX TABLE

I. Total population and number of births and deaths with rates of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Israel, and the United States of America 59

r, ..

I t NY I/

. I

$9 51 APPENDIg I CONSTRUCTICN OF THE PN IN SWEDEN

The PN's were adopted in 1947 when the"digit, and the -Weights 2 and 1 are used. This regional registers were set up at county admin- enables an identity number "to be checked istration. levels. Originally, these numbers con- automatically 'when data areregistered. The 1isted of nine digits which included the ttlate of method of calculation is illustrated as follows: -birth(six digits) and a birth number (three digits). Date of birth is indicated by two ,digits Identity number 450410 ,149 for the year, two for the month, and two for the Weights X 212121 212 clay. For example, the date of birth of a person Products 850420, 2418 born April 25, 1938, is written 380425. The Use of this reverse orderyear, month, and daywas Suin of products 8+5+0+4+2+4+144.= 34 farsighted at the time; recently thellnternational (N.B.: 18 is read as 1+8.) Standards Organization declared that numerical dates should alwayts be expressed in that order. The last digit of the Rim is subtracted from 10 The birth nuvriber consists of three digits rang- (i.e., 10-4=4 and 'the answer becomes the . ing from 001 to 999. Odd numbers stand for check- digit: The complete identity number be- males and even ones for females. i- comes 450410-1496. When the existing county registersl which Theidentity numberischecked when were printed from metal plates, werereplaced in recorded. 1967 by magnetic tape-ieegistors, a check 'digit' had to be added to the date of birth" and the birth number. This check digit was arrived at by Ide tity number 4504101496 using Modulus 10 algorithms. Therefore, a ,Plg Weigs X 2121212121 now contains 10 digits.' The date ofbirthcand .PrOduc 85042024186 ° the birth number/check digit °are separated by a hypben (e.g., 380425-6653). The year a per- -Sum of products 8+5+0+4+2+0+2+4+1+8+6=40 Son reachq 100 years of age the plus sign supersIdes the hyphen. If ihe last digit of thesum of the product is not In the ADP system, the Modulusia .6, then an error mustobviously have occurred; rithm is used for the calculation of the check this is indicated by theoutput.

11. 0 0 0

52 APPENDIX II CONSTRUCTION OF THE PN IN NORWAY

The birth number system includes both the The sum is divided by 11 (i.e., 239 4. 11 I?. 21 identification number and the routines to assign with a remainder of 8 where r1 = the reMainder) and maintain the identification numbers. The he first check digit is K1= 11 - r (3 in pre- Norwegian identification number Ts based on the ceding sample)? date of birth -and the sex of each person. The If r1.= 0, the k1 = 0. if r1 := 1, then the num- number consists of 11 digits and is constructed' ber is rejected and the next individual digit in as follows: the range is assigned. The second digit is calculated in the same Date of Birth IndividualCheck way; however, IBM standard weights are used: Day Month 4Year digits digits Birth nurhber 2 60 5 9 7 6 513 26 05 97 651 81 Weighals X5 43 2 7 6 5 432 10240106342 36 The last individualdigi--tiidtessex. If the Products 3020 person is a woman, the number is even"; If the Sum of person is a man, the number is odd. ;. Persons born in the 19th century are as- products 10+24+0+10+63+42+30+20+3+6 = 208 signed numbers Within the 749-500 range, and The sum is divided by 11 (i.e., 20811 = 18 those: born in the 20th century are assigned with a remainder of 10). The second check digit numbers in the 499-000 range. Numbers are as- is k2 = 11r2 = 1. The complete PN becomes signed consecutively in descending order. 26 05 97 651 31. The five last digits of the birth The last two digitsare check digits. The number, that is, the individual digits 'and the first digit is calculated by weighting the date of birth and the individual digits with standard: check digits, are called the fiersonal number. Every prsiis calculated by a special auto- weights. matic EDP routine. This routine checks which numbers are in use and which are not. A birth Birth numbef 2 665 9 7 6 51 numbothat once has been used will never be Weights X 3 761 8 9 4 52 used alen. Products 6420'5726324252 The Central Bureau of Statistics has the responsibility of assigning birth numbers twice a month. Lidts comprising the assigned birth num- Sum of bers tie then sent to the various local registra- products . 6+42+6+5+72+63+24+25+2 =' 239 tion offices. 000

53. APPENDIX III STRUCTURE OF THE PN IN 'DENMARK

The Person Number is purely numerical and By employing this method certain combina- consists of 10 digits.- tions of the first 9, digits give a check digit of FigureI shows ho'lv the number is con- 10; these combinations cannot be toed. If the structed. . result of the calculation is a check digit of 11 The check digit is computed by means of the (i.e., 11a remainder of 0), the check digit is Modulus 11 algorithm on the basis of the other given the value qf 0. nine digits which are weighted by a set of cob- When the check digit is odd, as in this case, stants as follows: the nuMber is assigned to a Man. When it is even, it is assigned to a woman. Identity 0 3 0 6 3 6 11 7 6 3 2 Constants )( 4 3 27. 5 4 Reftrona number t. Products 0 9 0 42 18 30 4314 Dateof birth

03 oe 1171 Sum of payofbirth products 0+9+0+42+18+30+4+3+14=120 Monthofbirth Ymrof birth Centuryof birth The sum is divided by 11 (i.e., 120 4- 11 = 10 Check digit.sex with a remainder of 10). The check digit is found by subtracting the remainder from 11 Figure I.Construction of Person Number for a male born .(i.e., 1110 = 1). June 3:1936: Denmark 000

. 62 ,f4 J APPENDIX IV CONSTRUCTION OF THE PN IN ISRAEL

Theoriginal\PN of Israel, developed incon- basenumCe;was extended by onedigit to ac- nection with the census of 448, consisted ofsiX commodate the needs of a future populationof digits as in the numbei 114888. Later, a series 10,000,000 or more; this created an eight-digit prefix was added using letters "a" through "g".;,PN (04114888). Second, a check digit was intro- ith a "d" prefix 'the number would become duced, calculated on the Modulus-10 algorithm, dj 14888. These letters were often assigned to whkh provided, a nirre-digit PN.-The methodof designated groups; for example, an "a" series calculation is as follows: block was given to immigrants arriving by ship, and series "e" was provided to maternity hospi- 11488 8 tals. The introductioii of a mechanical card Identity number 04 12121 21 2 index system in 1952 required that the letter Weights Products 0812416816 prefix be changed to a number; "a" became 1 and so on, with' the result that the PN became a Sum of digits 0+8+1+2+4+1+6+8+1+6 = 37 sevtri-digit number .(in our example, "d" became 4, and the number was 4114888). In 1966 the content of the mechanized\ residentscard index When ttlit last digit of the sum is subtracted was transferred tomagnetic tape and, subse- from 10, the answer (3) becomes the check digit quently two changes weie introduced. First, the ,.and the complete PN reads 041148883. 000

55 63 . APPOIDIXV

iTEMSIN THE SWEDISH CANCER-ENV1RONMENT REGISTER

The Swedish Cancer-Environment Register is Treatment administered by Planning Division 3, Statiitics: Died from cancer National Board dHealth and Welfare, S-106 30, Stockholm, Sweden. Data were integrated from Diagnosis incidentally at autopsy ,the Cance6, Register and the 1960 Censt,of Benign Population and Housing. Data from the Cancer Register (persons Causes of death registered in 1961-73) include: Date of-death

Person Number (PN) - Age at diagnosis Tumor serial number Age at death "Sex SUrvival time Name Occupation Data, from the 1960 Cus of Population Civil status and HoUsing include: Domicile Domicile Date of diagnosis Type of activity Date of death Occupational status Hospital, department Occupation Record-card number and year of record entry Economic activity Pathologist/cytologist Gainful employment Specimen number, and year specimen taken Location of place of work Site of tumor Main occupation during the year PAD (Pathological diagnosis after death) Countyof birth Diagnostic criterion Higher education Metastasis Person Number (PN)

56 4

1')

APPENDIX VI ITEMS IN STUDY "OUTCOME OF SUCCESSIVE PREGNANCIES FOR NORWEGIAN WOMEN 1967-1976"

' This groundbreaking research is being con- 8. Mother's health during pr gnancy ducted by Dr. Leiv S. Bakketeig, Institute of maximum 3 conditions; '3-tligit ICD Community Medicine, University of Trondheim, code Norway. It is receiving support from the Na- tional Institute of Child Health and Human De- ----ariable relating to the father: velopment, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Public Health Service. 1.Paternal ageby ye., date. of birth Variables are integrated from three sources: the Norwegian Medical Birth Registry (main- C. Variables relating to the family: tained at the University of Oslo), the Norwegian 1.Family relations between parents- Death Files (Central Bureau of Statisticis), and 1st cousins, 2d cousins, etc. " the Census File. Data from the Medical Birth Registry in- 2.Family history of diseaseserious, clude: inheritable disease among relatives maximum 3 conditions, 3-digit ICD A. Variables relating to the mother code, 4th digit inilicating relationship of* the newborn baby to the 1.Maternal ageby year, dat 9f birth family member suffering from the 2. Maternal paritynumber,of previous disease births and among these number of _ stillbirths D. Variables relating to the confmement: 3. Maternal marital statusunmarried, 1.Place of birthby municipality and married, divorced, -separated, by institution, classified by level of widowed obstetric service 4. Time of marriageby calendar year <7- 2: Timeofbirthday,hour,and minute 5.Place of residenceby municipality Inductionoflaborspecial code/ (444 in the country), characterized 3. classification 1-9 by county, urban, mial, industrializa- tion 4.Fetal presentationspecialcode/ 6. Duration of pregnancydays based classification 1-9 on date of birth minus datfe of LMP 5. Complications durinF laborspecial 7. Mother's health before pregnancy code, maximum 4 classifications maximum 3 ,conditions, 3-digit ICD 6.Interventionduringlabor7special code It, code

6 7 7.Intervention performedby physi- ' 2.Place of deathspecial code cian, by midwife 0 3. tiSex 8. Information on amniotic fluid, pla- _4; Date of birth centa, umbilical cordspecial code 5. .Date of death E. Variables relating to the1)irth:I 6. Type of deathaccident or disease 1.Sex 7. Causes of deathmaximum 4 diagnoses, 2. !Plurality 4-digit ICD code 3. Statusfetal death/stillbirth, died be- 8.For dead children less than 2 years of fore onset of labor, during labor or agemarital status of mother - within unlcYown time of death; live- Data from the Census File include: births dying during first 24 hours, 1-6 days, 7-27 days, 28 days to 1 A. Information on the mothers: year, end year, 3d year or later; live- births still alive' 1. Type oHncome/support 4.Birth weightnearest 10 grams 2.General educationNorwegian standard classification 5.Length 3.Highest educationoccrpational edu- 6. Asphyxiaspeciarcode cation, academic degree, and so forth,. 7.Congential malformations, birth! in- 4. Occupational activityhousewife, juries, and diseasesmaximum 3 cbn- -sjudent, employee, and so forth ditions, 4-digit ICD codes .5. Industrystandard International In- Data Gom the Norwegian Death Files (Cen- dustry classification (ISIC) tral Bureau of Statistics) include: B. Information on the fathers:

1.Place of residence at time of death. Same as above, except for "housewife" municipality classification

000

4 ,, APPENDIX VII POPULATION, BIRTH4 AND DEATH DATA

Table I.Total population'and number of births a deaths 'with rates of Sweden,orway, Denmark, Israel, and the United States of America [Midyear population estimates for 1977; births and deaths with rates f 1976 I

. .. Tote) Number of Birth Number of Death Country population1 births 2 rates2 deaths,2 rates2 ,. . . Sweden 8,255,000 98,345 12.0 90,677 11.0 Norway 4,044,000 63,474 13.3 40,216\ 10 0 t Denmark .. 5,089,000 65,267 12.9 54,001 \\\ 10.6 Israel , 3,611,000 97,469 27.6 . 23,856 United States 216,817,000 3,165,000 143 1,91,2,000 ,9 SOU CES: 1U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census: World Population 1977: Recent Demographic Estimates for the \ Countries nd Regions of the World. Washington. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1978 (reference 6). 2 ons: Demographic Yearbook 1977. NewYork. United Nations, 1978 (reference 7). 000

Tr.

6 7.

t *MS. GOVERNMENT pitimmo OFFICE: 1986 3Ht40/ 201t3 59