Copyright © Hans Högman 2020-07-16
Personal Identity
Numbers - Sweden
Swedish Personal Identity
Numbers / Personnummer
Introduction
Every Swedish citizen has an unique Personal
Identity Number (PIN). It is also referred to as
Citizen's Codes. In Sweden it is called
Personnummer.
The system with Personnummer was introduced in
Sweden in 1947. Every person born in Sweden are
allocated a "personnummer" when they are born.
People born before 1947 were also allocated a PIN
that year.
The personal identity numbers consisted in the
beginning of two parts; the birth date and a birth
number. In 1967 a control digit / check digit were
added to the PIN.
Also immigrants are allocated personal identity
numbers. PINs are issued by the Swedish Tax
Agency (Skatteverket) as part of the National
Population Register (Folkbokföring).
The PIN is used by authorities, by health care,
schools and universities. Also used by banks
(needing it by law for tax purposes and mandatory
customer identification) and insurance companies
(needing it for car liability insurance and for medical
travel insurance coordination). Other companies
often ask for it in return for a post-paid service, like
a telephone subscription, to be able to check e.g. the
person's credit record or address or if needed to
perform debt collection.
The PIN is printed on driving licenses, passports and
ID cards, under the header Personnummer.
PINs - Structure
The format of the personal identity numbers consist
from 1967 (when the system was computerized) of
three parts; birth date, birth number and a
check digit; in total 10 digits and a hyphen.
For example:
001219-3421
Format: YYMMDD-nnnC
where:
•
YYMMDD is the date of birth and means: YEAR,
MONTH and DAY (6 digits)
•
nnn is a serial number and are referred to as
birth number (3 digits) , 001 - 999.
It is an odd number for men and an even
number for women. Each County (Län) used to
have their own series of birth numbers but
from 1990 there is a national series.
•
C is the check digit.
•
Between the birth date and the birth number
there is a hyphen (-). This sign is a hyphen (-) if
a person's age is less the 100 years old. If the
person is 100 years old or more the sign is a
plus sign (+).
A person born on December 19, 2000 might have a
"personnummer" as follows:
001219-3421
00 is the year 2000, 12 stands for December and 19
for the day (December 19). By looking at the birth
number, 342, we can tell that this is a baby girl (even
number).
If the person was born on December 19, 1900 the
PIN could be: 001219+3421 (with a plus sign).
The Birth Number
For example:
A person born before 1990 and has birth number
3412 (after the dash) were born in Blekinge län (34)
and is a male (1).
12 digits PINs
Some county authorities, such as Stockholm county,
and some banks, have began using 12 digit numbers
to allow YYYYMMDD.
The check digit
Both the birth date and the birth number is used
when the check digit is calculated. The check digit is
then added to the birth number as a fourth digit.
The method used for calculating the check digit is
called the modulus-10-method.
If we use the PIN mentioned above, a person born
on December 19, 2000 (001219-342) we will get the
check digit as follows:
1: 0x2 + 0x1 + 1x2+ 2x1 + 1x2 + 9x1 + 3x2 + 4x1 +
2x2 =
2: 0 + 0 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 9 + 6 + 4 + 4 = 29
3: 10 - 9 = 1 (where 9 is the single unit in 29)
4: The check digit is 1. The PIN will be: 001219-3421
1.
The numbers in the birth date and the birth
number is alternately multiplied by 2 and 1.
2.
The digits in each product are then added up in
a total sum. If a product is larger then 9, each
digit in the number is used. For example, the
number 13 will be 1 + 3.
3.
The single unit in the sum is subtracted from
the number 10.
4.
The reminder will be the check digit. If the
remainder is 10, then 0 will be used a the check
digit.
Personal Identity Numbers in
Other Countries
United States
In USA the Social Security Number (SSN) is a
personal identity number comparable to the
Swedish PIN.
The US SSN is issued to US citizens, permanent
residents and temporary (working) residents. The
number is issued to an individual by the Social
Security Administration.
Although its primary purpose is to track individuals
for Social Security purposes, the Social Security
number has become a de facto national
identification number for taxation and other
purposes. Social Security numbers were first issued
by the Social Security Administration in November
1935.
Format:
The Social Security number is a nine-digit number in
the format "AAA-GG-SSSS" and is divided into three
parts. The first three digits, the area number, is
assigned by geographical region. The middle two
digits are the group number and range from 01 to
99. The last four digits are serial numbers. They
represent a straight numerical sequence of digits
from 0001 to 9999 within the group.
United Kingdom
The UK National Insurance Number is a number
used in the administration of the National Insurance
or Social Security System. It is also used for some
purposes in the UK tax system. The number is
described by the United Kingdom government as a
"personal account number".
As it is the only number allocated to almost every
adult resident of the country, it is used for some
limited purposes to check identity.
The number is sometimes referred to as a NI No or
NINO.
People born and resident in the UK are assigned a
Child Reference Number shortly after birth when a
claim is made for Child Benefit. At age 15 years 9
months HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) notifies
each child of their NI number.
Persons from abroad who wish to work in the UK, or
those to whom a number was not initially allocated
as children, must apply for a number through the
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The
prefixes used are typically different from those used
in the normal run.
Format:
The format of the number is two prefix letters, six
digits, and one suffix letter. The example used is
typically AB123456C. Often, the number is printed
with spaces to pair off the digits, like this: AB 12 34
56 C.
Denmark
The Danish identity numbers are officially called
personnummer, but also CPR numbers (Det
Centrale Personregister) och was computerized in
1968. The CPR number is used in dealings with
public agencies, from health care to the tax
authorities. It is also used as a customer number in
banks and insurance companies. People must be
registered with a CPR number if they reside in
Denmark, if they own property or if they pay tax. The
CPR number is a ten-digit number with the format
DDMMYY-SSSS, where DDMMYY is the date of birth
and SSSS is a sequence number. The first digit of the
sequence number encodes the century of birth, and
the last digit of the sequence number is odd for
males and even for females.
The Danish CPR numbers are very similar to the
Swedish personnummer. However, the six first digits
are with the format DDMMYY while the Swedish are
with the format YYMMDD.
Foreigners who are not eligible to get a CPR-number,
but who need one, includes persons who have
witnessed a crime, persons who have been charged
with a crime, or are victims of a crime. These
persons are registered with a CPR-number
(ersättningspersonnummer) with the format:
DDMMYY-XXXX where XXXX are four letters instead
of four numbers.
Finland
The Finish identity numbers are called
henkilötunnus (HETU) or personbeteckning in
Swedish and was introduced in 1964. Finland has
two official languages, Finnish and Swedish.
The HETU number consists of 11 characters of the
form DDMMYYCZZZQ, where DDMMYY is the date
of birth, C the century sign, ZZZ the individual
number and Q the control character (checksum).
The individual number ZZZ is odd for males and
even for females. An example of a valid code is
311280-888Y.
A Personal Identity Code is given to every Finnish
citizen born in Finland. Foreign citizens whose
residence in Finland is permanent or exceeds more
than one year are also issued a personal identity
code by law.
Norway
The personal identity number in Norway are called
födelsenummer (Birth Number). It consists of 11
digits and is composed of the date of birth
(DDMMYY), a three-digit individual number (odd for
males and even for females), and two check digits.
Format: DDMMYY nnnKK.
The birth numbers are assigned at birth or
registration with the National Population Register.
People without permanent residence in Norway will
be assigned a D-number upon registration in the
population register. The D-number is like a birth
number having 40 added to the day of month.
France
The French identity numbers are called NIR (Numéro
d'inscription au Répertoire) or in full NIRPP (numéro
d'inscription au répertoire des personnes physiques). It
is composed of 13 digits + a two-digit key. The first
digit is 1 for males and 2 for women. The first digit is
followed by 4 digits for year of birth and month of
birth. Then there are 3 digits for department of birth
(county), 3 digits for place of birth and a 2-digit
checksum. In total 15 digits. The NIR number was
introduced in 1944. Another term for NIR is INSEE
code (INSEE = French National Institute for Statistics
and Economic Studies).
Each French person receives at birth a national
identification number, NIR (English: National
Repertory Registration).
The Netherlands
The identity numbers in the Netherlands are called
Burgerservicenummer or short BSN (Citizen's
Service Number). All people in the Netherlands
receive a BSN when they are born. It is printed on
driving licenses, passports and international ID
cards, under the header Personal Number.
The BSN consists of 9 digits. The 9th digit is a
checksum. The BSN does not contain any
information about the person to whom it is assigned
(i.e. no information, such as gender or date of birth).
Before 2007, the BSN was known as sofinummer
(sociaal-fiscaal nummer).
Belgium
In Belgium every citizen has a National Register
Number (nl: Rijksregisternummer / fr: Numéro de
registre national), which is created by using the
citizen's date of birth (encoded in six digits), followed
by a serial number (three digits) and a checksum
(two digits). The serial number is used so that men
get the odd numbers, while women get the even
numbers; thus, there can be only 500 men or
women on each day.
The national number is unique to each person and
in that capacity used by most government
institutions.
Germany
In Germany, there is no national identification
number in the full meaning of the term. For some
time, the West German government intended to
create a 12-digit personal identification number
(Personenkennzeichen, PKZ) for all citizens, registered
alien residents on its territory. The system, which
was to be implemented by the 1973 federal law on
civil registry, was rejected in 1976, when the
Bundestag found the concept of an identification
system for the entire population to be incompatible
with the existing legal framework.
German identity documents do not contain any
identity numbers, only a document number.
Austria
In Austria there is a social insurance number which
also is a personal identity number. All Austrian
citizens receive a social insurance number when
they are born. It consists of 4 digits, space and 6
further digits (date of birth with the format
DDMMYY), for example 1234 311279.
Canada
A social insurance number, SIN, is a number
issued in Canada to administer various government
programs. The SIN was created in 1964 to serve as a
client account number in the administration of the
Canada Pension Plan and Canada's varied
employment insurance programs. The SIN is
formatted as three groups of three digits (e.g., 123-
456-789). The first digit refers to the province of
issue. The last digit is a checksum. The SIN does not
contain any information about the person to whom
it is assigned (i.e. no information, such as gender or
date of birth).
The SIN has become a National Identification Number,
in much the same way that the Social Security
Number has in the United States.
Social Insurance Numbers that begin with the
number "9" are issued to temporary residents who
are not Canadian citizens or permanent residents.
Source References
•
Skatteverket Internet Site (The Swedish Tax
Agency)
•
Wikipedia
•
Article in the Swedish morning paper DN on
2016-04-06
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