Survey on Living Conditions (SILC)

Contact info

Labour and Income, Social Statistics.
Martin Faris Sawaed Nielsen
+45 23 69 90 67

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Survey on Living Conditions (SILC) 2024

In Denmark EU-SILC (Statistics on income and living conditions) is a combination of survey and register data. The purpose of EU-SILC is to provide a statistics on income, living conditions and risk of social exclusion. Statistics Denmark only disseminate a small part of EU-SILC. Dissemination is by Eurostat primarily.

The survey is conducted in all EU member states once a year following the same guidelines. In Denmark the survey has been conducted since 2004.

Statistical presentation

SILC consists of data on the composition of the households and their living conditions including questions on how easy it is for the household to make ends meet and the financial burden of the housing costs. Further information is collected on health and position on the labour market etc. These interview questions are then supplemented by a lot of register based information, mainly on incomes, demographics, housing and education.

Statistical processing

The subjective data from the interviews are combined with the register based data using the Central personal Register. To adjust for non-response bias, weights are computed and assigned to respondents. This ensures that the survey population match the Danish population on demographics and income levels.

Relevance

SILC is primarily used by Eurostat and the European Commission. Users of the statistics published in Denmark are mainly the press.

Accuracy and reliability

Data are based on a survey; hence there is some statistical uncertainty; especially on subgroups. In addition to sampling errors there might be a slight risk of bias. A calibration of the survey is carried out in order to limit any bias and make sure that the sample reflects the population on factors such as demographics and incomes. For the published variables the effect and risk of bias is assumed to be negligible due to the strong correlation with incomes.

Timeliness and punctuality

The data are usually published in December or January following the interview period. There is a risk of delays, due to the many different data sources used to compile SILC - which may not be available in due time.

Comparability

The published indicators are assumed comparable over time and between countries participating in the EU-SILC.

Accessibility and clarity

Some main figures are published in Nyt fra Danmarks Statistik and in the statbank. Eurostat publish many figures in the Eurostat database.