personnummer

I got my personnummer in the mail today, only three days after asking for it. Good efficiency that.

It's the Swedish tax/personal registration number, somewhat like the US Social Security number. Unlike in the US it's a very public number. It's used often. When you move you're supposed to tell the authorities within a week. They'll update your registration, and the change propogates to those who are interested. For example, there's no need to tell the bank your new address because they'll get it from the tax authorities.

My number is 700822-2817. It has internal meaning. Since most people reading this don't read Swedish, I'll translate the high points. "De sex första siffrorna beskriver personens födelsedatum." means "The first six digits denote the person's birthday." Now everyone knows how old I am. "De påföljande tre är ett löpnummer" means "The next three numbers are a serial number" (literally a "run number"). "där tredje siffran beskriver personens kön – jämn siffra för kvinnor och udda för män." means "the third digit denotes the person's gender – even digit for women and odd for men". Yep, I'm odd. This suggests there were about 140 men registered in Sweden with my birthday.

I was curious about the serial number. The Swedish tax authority's personnummer document says that until 1990 it was assigned serially but now it's generated randomly. Looks like I'm not part of a cohort of 140. The numbers worked out nicely though; 140 on that day * 365 days * 2 genders * 70 years average lifetime gives a population estimate of 7 million, which is close enough given the one sample.

The "-" character means I am under 100 years old, else it would be a "+". The last digit is a checksum digit. ("kontrollsiffra" directly means "control digit".) The algorithm is described in that PDF. It's a simple algorithm using the pattern 2121212. checksum("700822281") = 10-(sum_of_digits(2*7,1*0,2*0,1*8,2*2,1*2,2*8,1*1)%10) = 10-(sum(1,4,0,0,8,4,2,4,8,2)%10) = 10-(33%10) = 10-3 = 7.

Once I got my number, I went to Swedbank to ask about opening an account there. Yesterday I went to two other banks. Swedbank had by far the best service and were the most helpful. They also came recommended by Laura and Jacob. When I went to the other banks I was surprised at the response. In most US banks if you say "I'm going to open a personal account, deposit a chunk of money into it for a down payment on an apartment, I'll need a loan for the rest of the price, and I'll start a business account in a few months" then you'll get to talk to a representative one-on-one, or directed to the main branch where you can get that level of service.

Swedbank was what I expected. I opened a personal account there. Now I need to figure out how to get a wire transfer to it. I know the IBAN but the US isn't part of the IBAN system.

I then went on a tour of Majorna and Masthugget, to get a feel for those areas. Those and Linnéstan are where I'm most likely to find a place to stay. The prices are lower than in Vasastan and I want a 1 bedroom place which is around 60m² and with a decent enough living room area for a dance party.

I decided that Majorna - which is the cheapest of the places I was considering - was too far from the center, where all the cafes, restaurants, and excitement are. So Linné or Masthugget. There are about 10 viewings in that area next weekend.