Personal identification number (Denmark)
The Danish Personal Identification number (Danish: CPR-nummer or personnummer) is a national identification number, which is part of the personal information stored in the Civil Registration System (Danish: Det Centrale Personregister).
It was established in 1968 by combining information from all municipal Folk-registers of Denmark into one. See Folkeregister of Denmark
It is a ten-digit number, usually written xxxxxx-xxxx, preserving information on the birthday and gender of the carrier. For instance, Crown Prince Frederik was born on May 26, 1968, so the first six digits of his Personal ID Number will be 260568. The first digit after the dash will be 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4, showing that he was born between 1900 and 1999, while the last digit will be odd, because he is male.
How to get a Personal ID Number
Any person registered as of April 2, 1968 (May 1, 1972, in Greenland) or later in a Danish Folk-register, receives a personal identification number. Any person who is a member of ATP or is required to pay tax in Denmark according to the Tax-control Law of Denmark, but is not registered in a Folk-register, also receives a personal identification number.
You can be registered in a Danish Folk-register only if:
- You are born in Denmark and your mother is already registered in a Danish Folk-register, or
- You are registered in a ’Dansk Elektronisk Kirkebog (DNK)’ (Danish electronic church-book), or
- You stay in Denmark more than 3 months (non-Nordic citizens must also have a residence permit)
Danish citizens, including newborn babies, who are entitled to Danish citizenship, but are living abroad, do not receive a personal ID number, unless they move to Denmark.
Personal ID Number Certificate
Personnummerbevis. Today this certificate is of little use in Danish society, as it has been largely replaced by the much more versatile Sygesikringsbevis, which contains the same information and more. Both certificates retrieve their information from the Civil Registration System. However, personnummerbevis is still issued today and has been since September 1968.
It is received upon registration with the Civil Registration System, either by birth or by moving to the country. It may only be issued once and change of address does not entail issuing a new one. One can however request a new one from Indenrigs- og Sundhedsministeriet or in some cases the municipality one lives in.
Person ID Number in Danish Society
The number is an integral part of Danish society, and it is virtually impossible to receive any form of government service without one. Even in the private sector you would be hard pressed to receive services without such a number, unless it is minor daily business.