Personregister

Personregister, or person register, is an official database that contains basic personal data of residents or citizens. It is maintained by government authorities at national, regional or local level and supports administration, policy making and public services. In many countries it forms part of a broader set of registries, such as population registers, civil status registries and residence registers. In German-speaking contexts the term often denotes a general resident registry used for administrative purposes. A personregister typically holds identifiers and demographic data used to uniquely identify individuals and to verify entitlement to services.

Common data elements include full name, date and place of birth, gender, nationality, current address, nationality, and family relationships (parents, spouse, children). Some registers record changes of civil status (marriage, divorce, death) and migration events. Depending on jurisdiction, additional fields may include a national identification number, contact details, or eligibility flags for social benefits.

Access to and use of the register is governed by laws on data protection, privacy and public administration. Data are normally restricted to legitimate authorities and, in many cases, require purpose limitation, consent for non-essential processing, audit trails and data minimization. Data quality is maintained through regular updates from civil registers, migration and mortality records, and by data audits.

The personregister supports a range of functions: identity verification for public services, eligibility and enrollment for healthcare, taxation, social security, electoral administration, and statistical research. It also enables inter-agency data sharing under strict privacy controls and standardized data formats to improve efficiency and reduce duplication.