The National Documentation Project regarding the Elderly (Indicators 6-23)

Summary

Strengths: The registry provides very detailed information about the recipients of social services from municipalities. Microlevel data can be linked to other registry data - not only data concerning the elderly person him/herself, but also his/her spouse and children. Weakness: The data is collected from the Ministry of Social Affairs, the social institutions that provide the services and the municipalities. The coverage at the municipality level is far from complete since not all municipalities have agreed to contribute to the data collection effort. Hence for some years, there are only about half the number of municipalities that have contributed data. Coverage is increasing over time.

Type of data

Data Source
Registry

Type of Study
Other: Longitudinal data: The registries are continuously updated and merged to construct a micro-level dataset convering recipients of social services aged 67 and above.

Data gathering method
Registries

Access to data

Conditions of access

Type of available data (e.g. anonymised microdata, aggregated tables, etc.)
Anonymised microdata. Aggregated tables can be extracted from StatBank Denmark: http://www.statbank.dk/statbank5a/default.asp?w=1350

Formats available
Anonymised microdata: SAS Aggregate tables split by region/municipality, age and gender: http://www.statbank.dk/statbank5a/default.asp?w=1350

Coverage

Coverage Years of collection, reference years, and sample sizes
Data collection ongoing since 2006.

First year of collection
Data collection began in 2006 for some social services/benefits, but most data began to be collected in 2008.

Stratification if applicable
National coverage

Base used for sampling

Geographical coverage and breakdowns
National coverage - however the statistics are compiled on the basis of monthly digitalized data reports from the municipalities. The monthly statistical coverage varies among the municipalities.

Age range
Population aged 65 and above

Statistical representativeness
Population representative

Coverage of main and cross-cutting topics
The registry looks at social services that are administered by the municipalities, i.e. senior housing, daytime activity centres, meal services, temporary and permanent help in the home, nursing and care staff.

Linkage

Standardisation
N.A.

Possibility of linkage among databases
Can be linked to anonymized microdata in the Statistics Denmark registries.

Data quality

Entry errors if applicable
Not all municipalities report data for all years and for all social benefits. This missing information is noted in the StatBank Denmark tables and in the footnotes in the following tables: http://www.dst.dk/en/Statistik/emner/sociale-ydelser/sociale-ydelser-til-aeldre.aspx

Breaks
Since the data source is administrative registries, there will be breaks for certain variables due to changes in administrative practice, changes in legislation, etc. Such breaks are well documented by Statistics Denmark.

Consistency of terminology or coding used during collection
Definitions and descriptions of terminology are available in Danish: http://www.dst.dk/da/Statistik/emner/sociale-ydelser/sociale-ydelser-til-aeldre.aspx?tab=dok#

Governance

Contact information
Anne Vibeke Jacobsen
Statistics Denmark
Sejrøgade 11
2100 København Ø Denmark Phone: (+45) 39 17 30 18
Email: avj(at)dst.dk
Url: http://www.dst.dk/en/Statistik/emner/sociale-ydelser/sociale-ydelser-til-aeldre.aspx

Timeliness, transparency
Registries are updated regularly and made available for scientific use at intervals depending on the variable/series. For each statistic, information about purpose, history, collection method, accuracy, reference period, and comparability over time is provided here: www.dst.dk/documentation.