personnummer

Personnummer, or personal identity number, is Sweden’s nationwide unique identifier assigned to individuals who reside in Sweden. It is issued by the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) and is used by public authorities and many private services to identify a person for administrative purposes. A standard personnummer consists of ten digits written as YYYYMMDD-XXXX, where the first eight digits encode the birth date and the last four digits form a serial number. The final digit of the serial portion indicates gender (odd for men, even for women). In everyday use the number is often written without a hyphen as YYYYMMDDXXXX, and for individuals aged 100 or more a plus sign may be used instead of the hyphen.

The personnummer enables access to a wide range of services and records. It is used in taxation, social security, healthcare, social services, education, and pensions, and it is commonly required by banks, employers, and many private sector applications. Because it links to official records across systems, it is a central tool for identity verification and administrative processing in Sweden.

There are exceptions for people who are not registered residents. A coordination number (samordningsnummer) may be issued to individuals who need identification in dealings with authorities or certain services but do not have a standard Swedish birth date. Coordination numbers serve similar administrative purposes but are distinct from ordinary personal identity numbers and carry different implications for eligibility in some systems.

Privacy and security considerations surround the personnummer, as it is highly sensitive personal information. Access and usage are governed by data protection laws and national regulations to prevent misuse.