Dissemination policy

Statistics Denmark must produce all official statistics on social and economic trends in Danish society. To achieve this objective Statistics Denmark complies with the international principles governing trustworthy official statistics, which are adopted by the European Union and the United Nations.

Against this background, the dissemination policy of Statistics Denmark is based on the principles governing: Independence, accessibility, trustworthiness and reliability – and with the objective of creating, to the greatest possible extent, coherence and relevance for the users. The news media is a target group of special priority with regard to dissemination.

Independence

Statistics must be impartial. Figures, analyses and explanatory text are prepared on an objective basis and independent of political and economic interests.

This is ensured by, the independent status of Statistics Denmark falling under the Ministry for Digital Government and Gender Equality. 
 
Statistics must be compiled on a scientific basis, i.e. professional considerations determine the choice of methods applied for data collection, processing, storing and dissemination.

Statistical release dates are pre-announced in the scheduled release calendar on Statistics Denmark’s website. This is instrumental in ensuring that there is no political influence on the time for publishing statistical results.

Accessibility

All published statistics are readily available from Statistics Denmark’s website and the database Statbank Denmark (statistikbanken.dk). Some publications are also released on paper subject to a charge. The statistics can be freely used and quoted, provided that Statistics is stated as source.

Statistics must be published without any delay and when they are finally compiled. The statistical results must be available to all users at the same time. The statistics are published at 8 a.m. on the day of release.

All statistics are provided with access to documentation of methods, quality and concepts in the form of quality declarations.

Trustworthiness

The picture provided by the statistics with regard to social and economic trends must be trustworthy and reliable. When errors are detected in the statistics published, the corrections are published as quickly as possible. Information about errors is announced on Statistics Denmark’s website, and the corrections are also made available from our website.

As soon as Statistics Denmark becomes aware of erroneous or misconstrued interpretation of our figures by the news media, we respond by contacting the news media and offer assistance in correcting any errors. Grave misinterpretations can by corrected by means of a discussion paper prepared by Statistics Denmark.

Confidentiality

In publishing statistics it is ensured that the statistical information cannot be referred to any identifiable businesses or persons.

Statistics Denmark grants access to micro data for purposes of authorized research and analyses, i.e. data at the levels of persons and business enterprises. It is impossible to identify individuals or businesses from the micro data made available.

Coherence

A variety of different dissemination channels for publishing statistics are applied by Statistics Denmark: Newsletters, publications, Statbank Denmark, subject pages, social media, etc. To ensure coherence across the dissemination channels, a subject structure is applied, making it possible to link from the general content to the more detailed tables and documentation and further on to related statistics of a subject.

Relevance

To ensure that statistics are disseminated in a way corresponding to the requirements of the users, current user satisfaction surveys are conducted. The requests of the users are also incorporated, through user committees and focus group interviews.