Just a number? Posted by Katja on May 16, 2011 in Culture
Every country that wants to keep track of its citizens has to have some sort of a system. In Sweden it is your birthdate plus an additional four numbers that are made unique for just you. Well the combination of the twelve digits are supposed to be unique to you anyway.
For example: your number could be 1967-01-24-XXXX. In Swedish it is called your personnummer. These numbers are very important. You really can’t function in society without them.
In a welfare system like Sweden’s you can be treated as a number being asked for the holy “personnummer” instead of your name. If you have forgotten your library card and want to borrow books some libraries still lend you books if you tell them your personnummer and they will find you in their data base. The same thing goes for hospitals, dentists and other areas that are taken care of by the state.
If you move to Sweden I am pretty sure that you get given a personal number, even if it is just a temporary one. Even one year exchange students are given special numbers.
Elementary school students in about their 3rd or 4th year are expected to be able to remember their personal numbers by themselves by then.
Do you get treated as a number in your country? Is there a number system at all?
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Comments:
Karel Brits:
In Belgium there is a similar system: the Rijksregisternummer (state registry number). It’s built up starting with the date of birth, and has 5 personal numbers after that.
Most people don’t know there number by heart though. Mine is 770924-067 20.
Alicia:
yes it’s just the same in my country, but we call it IC number, and we have 2 extra numbers to indicate which state are we from.
Judy:
Does identity theft happen in Sweden where someone steals your number and can make purchases or get credit for loans under your name? It’s a big problem in the U.S. if someone gets your Social Security number.
Ivana:
In Serbia we have a personal number system, comprising thirteen digits (day, month, year of a birth, and some other references from the birth certifcate. One’spersonal number here isn’t treated as a substitute for everything else. Residents are not obliged to remember their personal numbers nor they’ve been asker for in case of losing some valid documents. Instead, our identity card is compulsory for those over the age of 16. It is unacceptable to leave the house without the identity card.
Liam:
Everyone is a number in their country, same in South Africa.
Chelsey:
In the US, everyone has a Social Security number, but it is not used as heavily as the personnummer in Sweden. In the US, you ssn is very private because of identity theft. And you would usually use your name at the Doctor, Pharmacy, ect, not your #. I am impressed at how well the personnummer links everything together in Sweden, but I find it funny that one cannot even rent a movie without one!
Nikki:
Nope, nothing like that in the UK! You have your National Insurance number which is just needed by employers really, and nobody remembers theirs.
Luke:
In Australia, we have a TFN (tax file number) LOL…
Marta:
In Poland we have ‘pesel’ which is an equivalent of the ‘personnummer’ you have in Sweden. As far as I’m concerned it is always your birthday + 4 digits. Even though we are expected to give our pesel number quite often, not many people actually know it by heart (mine is dead easy and I still don’t remember it). To give you an example of how important it is, when students are sitting their final exams they are asked about their pesel. Without it you are failed instantly.