Living Conditions in Denmark

Abstract

Background When Danmarks Statistik (the Central Bureau of Statistics) and the Danish National Institute of Social Research jointly published the first edition of Living Conditions in Denmark in the fall of 1976, the first step was taken towards an ongoing or recurrent social reporting in Denmark. As in other countries, over the years a growing awareness of the need to develop social statistics to supplement national accounts as a basis for evaluating development processes had arisen. That there was a need was reflected in the fact that by September 1977, 17,000 copies of the I st edition had been sold and a fourth reprint was being considered. The publication served very much a dual function in providing a statistical basis which permitted broader evaluation of social development and which at the same time pointed to the need to develop social statistics even further. The first edition aimed at 'presenting a comprehensive selection of the most important statistical information on the development of and disparities in living conditions in Denmark'. The report excelled by its systematic documentation of statistics currently produced and gathered for specific purposes. The statistics that were presented, however, did not constitute a coherent body of information. Furthermore, the various types of statistics often defied comparison. It is intended in the second publication (to appear in summer 1979) to improve these shortcomings as far as is possible by establishing a higher degree of coordination among the various producers of the statistics to be presented. This, however, is only a partial solution that in the long run will be replaced by new types of social statistics.