Housing benefits

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Labour and Income, Social Statistics
Morten Steenbjerg Kristensen

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Housing benefits 2021

Housing benefit is a tax free subsidy granted to households with high housing expenses relative to the household income. The purpose of the statistics on housing benefit is to elucidate the number of beneficiaries of housing benefit and the amount received in benefit. The housing benefit statistics date back to 1967, but is in the current format comparable back to 2007.

Statistical presentation

The statistics on housing benefits cover statistics on the number of all beneficiaries (i.e. households), and amounts received on a monthly basis. Rent subsidies (for non-pensioners, as well as to early retirees, who have been assigned pension after January 1st 2003) and housing allowances (for retirees) depending on a number of variables (type of benefit, rent income and number of children).

Statistical processing

Data for these statistics are collected monthly from Udbetaling Danmark via a system-to-system connection. Data are treated annually. Invalid data are excluded. Afterwards, the data is aggregated by the type of housing benefit, municipality and age.

Relevance

These statistics are relevant for various Ministries, municipalities, researchers, and KL- Local Government Denmark and researchers. The statistics are used internally in Statistics Denmark, Municipal budgets and to assess the law on individual housing benefits.

Accuracy and reliability

The statistics are based on administrative registers of housing benefits, but errors and duplicates may occur in the register. Invalid data and duplicates are removed (less than 0.01 pct.). The housing benefit amounts are overestimated compared to reality, since months with less than a full month's housing eligibility are included as a full month in the statistics. Only final figures are published.

Timeliness and punctuality

The statistics on housing benefits 2020 is published in March 2021 as scheduled.

Comparability

Statistics on housing benefits in Denmark date back to 1967. The statistics are comparable since 1983 in its current format. The statistics are produced according to common European guidelines and are therefore comparable to statistics from other countries published in Eurostat.

Accessibility and clarity

These statistics are published yearly in Nyt fra Danmarks Statistik. Simultaneously, the statistics are published online at http://www.Statbank.dk under the subject Adults receiving social benefits.