Confidentiality

The respondents of Statistics Finland's data collections are informed in advance for which purposes the collected data will be used.

All data collected for statistical purposes are confidential. When processing data, it is seen to that no person's privacy or business or professional secret is endangered. Every person employed by Statistics Finland has signed a pledge of secrecy.

Statistics and research results are released as summaries, tables and graphs. The answers of individual persons or enterprises cannot be identified from them.

Respondents' identification data, such as name or personal identification number, are not collected or stored unless it is necessary for the production of statistics. It is usually necessary when identification data are needed for combining the collected data with some other data. After the combining, all information that could lead to direct identification of the respondent is removed from the data.

Data collected for statistical purposes can be used in scientific research and statistical surveys. Permission to use can be granted only to such data from which the respondents cannot be directly identified.

Besides the Statistics Act, the Personal Data Act and the Act on the Openness of Government Activities are applied to processing of data when producing statistics. Data protection provisions define what data can be collected, how data may be processed, and in which form they may be published.

Further information about the topic:
Data protection descriptions