Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
Statistics on healthcare non-expenditure provide information on healthcare human resources, healthcare facilities, and healthcare utilisation.
The people active in the healthcare sector (doctors, dentists, nurses, etc.) and their status (graduates, practising, migration of doctors and nurses, etc.);
The available healthcare technical resources and facilities (hospital beds, beds in residential care facilities, medical technology, etc.);
The health activities or patient contacts undertaken (hospital discharges, surgical procedures, ambulatory care data, etc.).
Annual national data are provided in absolute numbers or as a rate of a relevant population.
Data are based mainly on administrative records (see section 18.1 ‘Source data’ for more information).
3.2. Classification system
For the collection of data on healthcare non- expenditure, the classifications used in the System of Health Accounts (SHA) and its related set of International Classification for the Health Accounts are applied.
For Health Employment, the Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 September 2005 on the recognition of professional qualifications apply.
Definitions of mandatory variables are laid down in Commission Regulation (EU) 2022/2294.
Where possible, the statistics are separated by sex (male/female), age group and NUTS2 region.
National deviations: see Annex at the bottom of the page.
3.3. Coverage - sector
Public health.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
The healthcare non-expenditure statistics describe the public health sector from a non-monetary perspective. The statistics explain the number or rate of different healthcare resources, facilities and utilisations. A wide range of indicators are collected from a multitude of sources and therefore, details pertaining to individual variables are given in the Annex.
Definitions of mandatory variables are laid down in Commission Regulation (EU) 2022/2294.
Joint Questionnaire on Non-Monetary Health Care Statistics, which is carried by Eurostat, OECD and WHO-Europe.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
Code of Practice, European Statistics (ESCoP): Principle 5: Statistical Confidentiality and Data Protection
National statistics law:
Art. 16: Statistikgeheimnis
Art. 17: Weitergabe von Daten
Art. 18: Datensicherheit und Datenaufbewahrung
General Data Protection Regulation / Datenschutzgrundverordnung (DSGVO) / Datenschutzgesetz (DSG): On the basis of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), individuals have the following rights: right of access (Article 15), right of rectification (Article 16), right of erasure (Article 17), right of restriction (Article 18), right of data portability (Article 20) and right of objection (Article 21), insofar as these rights apply in a specific case due to the legal requirements.
Due to the small size of Liechtenstein it is sometimes possible to trace back business activities of specific private institutions. These data are treated as confidential. All policies and procedures to guarantee confidentiality are described in detail in the Quality Guidelines.
The Data is released as soon as possible. People who subscribed themselves earlier to a newsletters are are automatically informed on the day of the release. Visitors of the Website of the Office of Statistics are informed by the online news on the day of the release. The exact day of the release is available online three month in advance. As the data is online available for the public, everyone can access it at the same time.
Non-monetary health data is published yearly.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
When the data is published, the news is posted on the website of the statistics portal. People who have registered for the specific newsletter are instantly informed via email.
If requested microdata is available for Researchers as of the educational Level of a PhD. Microdata confidentiality rules are stated in Section 7.1.
10.5. Dissemination format - other
The publication is online in form of a short version an a pdf-file for download, but there is the option to create an automatically generated PDF (button on the webpage), including a content list, links to data, database and a document about quality ("Methodik und Qualität", only in German).
A written manual is produced and archived yearly. It is for internal use only.
11.1. Quality assurance
The following set the standards for our publications:
Quality Guidelines
European Statistics Code of Practice enshrined in the national law of statistics
Control mechanisms:
A check sheet is handed over together with the publication in process every time the person working on the publication changes. All working steps are documented in the check sheet including the deadline and the actual date.
The data quality is good as we do not depend on sample data. Instead a full survey with 100% return rate is conducted.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
In 2023 a users survey (online) was conducted, no specific requests for more health data was mentioned by users. But The Statistics Commission calls for more detailed information on the care of patients at home.
The data on health care in Liechtenstein is collected to its full extent. Due to the size of Liechtenstein a part of health care is not provided inside the country, but available abroad for liechtenstein citizens. We do not report on this health care supply. Also Liechtenstein citizens who graduate from medical school abroad are not included. This is relevant, because there is only one course of study regarding medical education on the university level in Liechtenstein. Also we do not report on numbers of the procedure "Cataract", because there is only one institution doing this procedure and the confidentiality policy cannot be met reporting this data (also see 7.1).
13.1. Accuracy - overall
The data quality is good as we do not depend on sample data. Instead a full survey with 100% return rate is conducted. The independent practice of a health profession requires a permit from the health office. Also further information on institutions are reliable because they collect information on personnel, equipment, measures and diagnoses out of their own interest.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Not applicable.
14.1. Timeliness
Depending on the variable the time lag is three months respectively one year and three months (health activities, Physical Resources). This is the time the hospitals and the office of public health need to gather and check the data.
14.2. Punctuality
The release of the publication 2023 has been on time.
There is a document reporting and evaluating the punctuality over all. The punctuality of every publication is documented separately.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
As Liechtenstein is a very small country, there are no regions.
15.2. Comparability - over time
Whenever possible, the information is presented in time series. Since the populations and categorizations on health infrastructure change little, comparability over time is ensured. Data are fully comparable over time.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
No coherence problems have been detected.
15.4. Coherence - internal
No lack of coherence has been detected.
As the data is administrative costs are incurred only in the form of working time.
Office of Statistics Liechtenstein: ca. 35 hrs.
Office of Public Health Liechtenstein: ca. 50 hrs.
17.1. Data revision - policy
Liechenstein uses Eurostats' general revision policy - if necessary.
Source data for the different variables are given in the Annex at the bottom of the page.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Annual.
18.3. Data collection
Main data sources:
1. Health Employment, Workforce Migration:
a) Practising:
List of doctors, nurses, dentists, etc. licensed to practice (“Berufsliste”): The administrative lists of the Office of Public Health (in Excel-format) build the base. These lists are saved as status per end of year and further analyses (age, gender…) are made. Persons who paused their licenses (“ruhend gestellt”) due to the list are excluded in the practicing concept. Lists are also publicly available (see annex 1) and serve as data-source of the yearly report of the Liechtenstein Government (Rechenschaftsbericht).
Hospital employment, Nurses, Caring personnel: Additional data are requested directly with relevant institutions (e.g. Landesspital, LAK, Lebenshilfe…). They receive the relevant template of the original Eurostat-questionnaire. Data of the individual Institutions are aggregated by the Office of Public Health.
b) Professionally Active, licensed to practice
Additional Data are acquired from Census (every five years), delivered by the Office of Statistics.
2. Physical and Technical Resources, Hospital Aggregates
Data are requested directly with the relevant Institutions (e.g. Landesspital, LAK, Lebenshilfe…). They receive the relevant template of the original Eurostat-questionnaire. Data of the individual Institutions are aggregated by the Office of Public Health.
3. Health Activities
a) Doctors Consultations: Data are taken from the Office of Statistics (Amt für Statistik), “Krankenkassenstatistik” (Tab. 1.4), which is published yearly, with no further processing.
b) Breast cancer screening (mammography) and cervical cancer screening: Based on programme data. The Office of Public Health collects feedback-questionnaires on the realized screenings, these are read into a special IT-programme, from which reports can be made.
c) Other Variables (e.g. Dentists Consultations, Immunisation, as indicated in the Sources and Methods Document): Data from EHIS.
All Data is compared to the data of previous years in terms of credibility. For the following Variables further instruments exist:
1. Health Employment, Workforce Migration:
a) Practising:
These data can be checked against their yearly reports (“Geschäftsberichte”).
b) Professionally Active, licensed to practice
With the help of separate Excel-lists the Office for Public Health checks completeness and plausibility of the aggregated data from a) and b) before entering into the questionnaire.
2. Physical and Technical Resources, Hospital Aggregates
These data can be checked against their yearly reports (“Geschäftsberichte”). The Office for Public Health checks completeness and plausibility of the aggregated data before entering into the questionnaire.
18.5. Data compilation
Data is based on registers, no imputation or weighting was done.
18.6. Adjustment
Not applicable.
As there is only one institution doing the procedure "Cataract", the confidentiality policy cannot be met. A confidential flag has not been accepted by the automatic control of EDAMIS. Therefore we do not report this data. If there is a technical solution, please let us know.
Statistics on healthcare non-expenditure provide information on healthcare human resources, healthcare facilities, and healthcare utilisation.
The people active in the healthcare sector (doctors, dentists, nurses, etc.) and their status (graduates, practising, migration of doctors and nurses, etc.);
The available healthcare technical resources and facilities (hospital beds, beds in residential care facilities, medical technology, etc.);
The health activities or patient contacts undertaken (hospital discharges, surgical procedures, ambulatory care data, etc.).
Annual national data are provided in absolute numbers or as a rate of a relevant population.
Data are based mainly on administrative records (see section 18.1 ‘Source data’ for more information).
30 January 2025
The healthcare non-expenditure statistics describe the public health sector from a non-monetary perspective. The statistics explain the number or rate of different healthcare resources, facilities and utilisations. A wide range of indicators are collected from a multitude of sources and therefore, details pertaining to individual variables are given in the Annex.
Definitions of mandatory variables are laid down in Commission Regulation (EU) 2022/2294.
National changes of statistical concepts and national definitions deviating from Regulation (EU) 2022/2294: see Annex at the bottom of the page.
Registered health professionals, health care facility categories and hospital discharges.
All health care staff.
All available beds or equipment in hospitals or in nursing and residential care facilities.
All discharges or procedures performed in all hospitals.
Complete national territory
Calendar year.
The data quality is good as we do not depend on sample data. Instead a full survey with 100% return rate is conducted. The independent practice of a health profession requires a permit from the health office. Also further information on institutions are reliable because they collect information on personnel, equipment, measures and diagnoses out of their own interest.
Absolute numbers at end of reference period/average number during reference period.
Data is based on registers, no imputation or weighting was done.
Source data for the different variables are given in the Annex at the bottom of the page.
Non-monetary health data is published yearly.
Depending on the variable the time lag is three months respectively one year and three months (health activities, Physical Resources). This is the time the hospitals and the office of public health need to gather and check the data.
As Liechtenstein is a very small country, there are no regions.
Whenever possible, the information is presented in time series. Since the populations and categorizations on health infrastructure change little, comparability over time is ensured. Data are fully comparable over time.
