Statistical presentation

Data description

The quarterly national accounts provide quarterly estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) and its main components for Denmark, compiled in accordance with the European System of Accounts (ESA2010). The quarterly national account include GDP and its breakdowns by output, expenditure and income, covering the main aggregates used for the analysis of short-term economic developments. These include gross value added by industry, final consumption expenditure, gross capital formation, exports and imports of goods and services, compensation of employees, taxes less subsidies on production and import, and gross operation surplus and mixed income. Quarterly GDP is compiled using three approaches:

• Gross domestic product (GDP) at market prices is calculated from the production side by subtracting the total value of intermediate consumption in purchaser’s prices.
• GDP can also be calculated from the use side as the sum of all final uses in purchaser’s prices minus imports of goods and services.
• Finally, GDP can be calculated from the income side as compensation of employees plus gross operating surplus and mixed income plus taxes less subsidies on production. The Danish quarterly GDP is calculated by using the first two approaches – from the productions side and from the use side.The production approach serves as the main benchmark in the balancing process. The quarterly national accounts are compiled at current prices and in chain-linked volumes (reference year 2020). Both seasonally adjusted and non-seasonally adjusted series are produced. In addition, more detailed quarterly national accounts series are available in Statistics Denmark’s national database, including further breakdowns by industry, expenditure components and types of investment.

Classification system

The national accounts use international classifications in accordance with ESA 2010. In some cases, national adaptions or subdivisions are applied.

Industries

The industry classification used in the quarterly national accounts is based on the Danish Industrial Classification 2007 (DB07), which is the Danish version of the international nomenclatures EU’s NACE Rev. 2 and the UN’s ISIC Rev. 4. DB07 operates with several standard groupings: 10, 19, 36, and 127 groups.

In the quarterly national accounts, the aggregation level 10a3 is used, which corresponds, with a few deviations, to the 10-group standard in DB07. The 10a3-grouping contains 13 groups, whereas the 10-group standard contains 10. The difference is due to two cases of subdivision in the 10a3-grouping: manufacturing, mining and quarrying, and utility services are divided into three separate industries instead of being combined into one. In addition, real estate activities are divided into two industries: real estate activities and renting of non-residential buildings, and dwellings.

DB07 is used in the national accounts till the release in June 2028, where the Danish Industrial Classification 2025 (DB25) will be applied. DB25 is already in use in other statistics from Statistics Denmark.

Investment types

Investments in the national accounts are classified according to a Danish adaptation of a division recommended in SNA2008:

• Fixed assets
• Dwellings
• Buildings other than dwellings
• Other structures and land improvements
• Transport equipment
• ICT equipment, other machinery and equipment, and weapons systems
• Cultivated biological resources
• Intellectual property products

Groups of consumption

Household consumption is classified according to the Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP 2018), developed by the United Nations Statistics Division.

Government consumption is classified according to the Classification of the Functions of Government (COFOG).

Read more about consumption groups in the national accounts at Consumption groupings in the national accounts.

Sectors

Institutional sectors follow ESA2010. The sector code is used to group institutional units that share the same main activity and function.

Sector coverage

The quarterly national account covers all sectors of the economy with breakdowns by economic activity and type of non-financial assets.

Statistical concepts and definitions

Workplace: An organisational part of an enterprise located at a given geographical location which produces one or predominantly one type of goods or services.

Basic price: The amount receivable by the producer from the purchaser for a unit of a good or service produced as output minus any tax payable, and plus any subsidy receivable, on that unit as a consequence of its production or sale; it excludes any transport charges invoiced separately by the producer.

Balance of payments: The balance of payments is an aggregate of Denmark's transactions with the rest of the world. It is subdivided into current account, capital account and financial account.

The current account consists of transactions in goods and services, remuneration of labour and return on capital (investment income such as interest and dividends) as well as current transfers, like aid to developing countries.

The capital account includes certain one-off transactions. A division is the acquisition and disposal of non-produced and non-financial assets (e.g. trademarks). Another division is capital transfers, which can include grants for investment in development aid.

The financial account shows transactions that change Denmark's foreign financial assets and liabilities. It shows how surpluses (or deficits) in the current account are placed (or financed), such as shares, investment fund certificate, bonds, loans and deposits.

Gross national income (GNI): Gross national income (GNI) is calculated by adding net property income from abroad, net compensation of employees from abroad and subsidies less taxes from abroad to the gross domestic product (GDP).

Gross Domestic Product (GDP): The value of a country's annual production produced in the country's workplaces. There are three ways to calculate GDP:

• Gross domestic product (GDP) at market prices is calculated from the production side by subtracting the total value of intermediate consumption in purchaser’s prices.
• GDP can also be calculated from the use side as the sum of all final uses in purchaser’s prices minus imports of goods and services.
• Finally, GDP can be calculated from the income side as compensation of employees plus gross operating surplus and mixed income plus taxes less subsidies on production.

Gross Value Added (GVA): Gross domestic product at base prices. GVA is calculated for the individual business types as production at base prices minus intermediate consumption at buyer prices and is thus, also equal to the sum of other production taxes (net), compensation of employee, and surplus of production and mixed income. For society as a whole, gross value added can also be calculated as the gross domestic product at market prices minus net product taxes.

Constant prices: Current prices adjusted for inflation. Calculation of fixed prices is necessary to make comparisons over time where the effect of price developments needs to be eliminated. Fixed prices are calculated using the prices from the previous year, and these form the basis for calculating the chained values. In addition, fixed prices with a fixed base year (e.g. year 2000) are also calculated.

FISIM: Financial Intermediation Services Indirectly Measured is the value of financial intermediation services provided by banks and other financial institutions without direct fees paid by customers. FISIM is calculated as the part of the interest margin that reflects the institutions’ intermediation services – that is, the difference between the interest paid and received by customers.

Consumption in production: The value of the goods and services used in production, including the cost of repair and maintenance.

Balance of demand and supply: A compilation of demand and supply of goods and services in a country throughout a period. Demand and supply of goods and services are by definition always the same in the national accounts. The supply side consists of GDP and imports of goods and services, while the demand side consists of consumption, gross capital formation and exports of goods and services.

Institutional unit: An economic unit which, at its own discretion and under its own legal responsibility is able to: - Own assets, and exercise the rights that follow - Take on debt - Perform economic activities, such as production, consumption, investment and savings - Enter into financial transactions with other entities - Meaningfully prepare full accounts including both an operating account and a balance sheet.

An account does not necessarily have to be available for an entity to meet the definition. It is sufficient that the entity, if it so desires or is required by it, will be able to keep meaningful accounts.

Chained values: Periodic changes (e.g. years) that are chained to create comparability over longer periods of time.

Current prices: Prices or price level that applies to goods and services in the current period. The opposite of current prices is fixed prices.

Economic area: The geographical area managed by a government within which persons, goods and services, and capital move freely. Includes duty-free zones, national airspace, territorial waters and the part of the continental shelf that lies within the international waters under the sovereignty of the country. Also includes territorial enclaves (e.g. Danish embassies and consulates abroad), deposits of oil, natural gas, etc. in international waters outside the country's continental shelf, which are utilized by resident entities.

Producer price: The sales price of products at the first stage of distribution, which typically involves the sale of goods from the producer to other businesses. In the Producer Price Index, the relevant price is the basic price, which excludes VAT and other deductible taxes related to turnover. Taxes and duties on goods and services invoiced by the company, are also excluded, whereas any product-related subsidies and discounts are included.

Residential unit: An entity is a resident of a country or a region if it is located within the economic territory of that country or region and conducts or intends to conduct economic activities and transactions to a significant extent for a period of at least one year.

Statistical unit

In the national accounts, two basic statistical units are used: institutional units and local kind-of-activity units (LKAUs), also referred to as workplaces. An institutional unit is defined as an economic entity that, on its own decision-making authority and under its own legal responsibility, can:

• Own assets and exercise the rights associated with them.
• Incur liabilities.
• Carry out economic activities such as production, consumption, investment, and saving.
• Engage in economic transactions with other units.
• Meaningfully compile a complete set of accounts, including both an income statement and a balance sheet.

A local kind-of-activity unit (LKAU) comprises the part of an institutional unit that contributes to a single productive activity, e.g. retain trade in shoes. If an institutional unit has several productive activities – for example, both manufacturing and selling shoes – a separate LKAU is defined for each activity. In the national accounts, LKAUs are grouped by industries, while institutional units are grouped by sectors. The Danish national accounts are based on institutional units for sector accounts and on LKAU’s for the compilation of production and value added by industry.

Statistical population

The quarterly national accounts cover all resident enterprises, households or other units characterised by economic decision-making autonomy and their ability to enter into economic transactions with other resident or non-resident units.

Reference area

Denmark excl. Faroe Islands and Greenland. The Danish national accounts cover the activity carried out by Danish resident entities and thus not defined by where the activity takes place geographically.

Time coverage

The functional quarterly national accounts cover the period from the first quarter of 1990 onwards, while the institutional accounts cover the period from the first quarter of 1999 onwards.

Base period

Chain-linked volumes and and indices are computed with 2020 as the reference year / base period (chained values, 2020 prices), which can be used to analyse the real development of economic aggregates — i.e., developments adjusted for price changes.

Unit of measure

Quarterly GDP and its main components are in the national publications expressed in DKK million. In addition, GDP is compiled in previous year prices and in chain-linked volumes. The same GDP series are also available in euro, as growth rates and indices, per capita and in purchasing power standards (PPS) in the databases available from Eurostat. In Statistics Denmark’s national databases, quarterly GDP series are disseminated in DKK and selected per capita measures.

Reference period

The reference time for the economic flows of the quarterly national accounts is the quarter in which the economic activity occurs.

Frequency of dissemination

Quarterly figures are published eight times a year. The first release for a given quarter is published around 50 days after the end of the quarter. This release is preliminary and based on incomplete source data. This is followed by a revised estimate, published approximately 90 days after the end of the quarter, when more source data have become available. The quarterly figures are subsequently revised in connection with the compilation of the annual national accounts and benchmark revisions.

Legal acts and other agreements

The Danish Statistics Act § 6 and §§ 8 - 12. The Danish Statistics Act establishes Statistics Denmark as the national statistical authority and provides the legal basis for the collection, compilation and dissemination of official statistics, including the obligation of respondents to supply data and the rules on confidentiality.

Regulation (EU) No. 549/2013 of 21 May 2013 on the European System of National and Regional Accounts in the European Union (ESA2010) (OJ L 174 26 June 2013, p. 1). This regulation defines the common European methodological framework, concepts definitions, classifications and accounting rules for the compilation of national and regional accounts in the European Union.

The Commission Decision of 17 December 2002 further clarifying Annex A to Council Regulation No. 2223/96 as regards the principles for measuring prices and quantities in the national accounts. This decision provides further guidance on implementation of the principles for measuring prices and volumes in the national accounts in order to ensure harmonized and comparable constant-price estimates.

Cost and burden

The statistics are based on information collected by Statistics Denmark for the compilation of other statistics. As such, there is no direct reporting burden in the compilation of the national accounts. Often, questionnaires for statistics included in the national accounts have been prepared in consultation with the national accounts to ensure sufficient data to meet the needs of the national accounts as well.

Comment

Read more about the national accounts at Key figures for the national accounts.