Sweden Personakt

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Background
Personakt files were kept in the Parish Offices (pastorsexpeditionen) from 1947-1991 when the responsibilty of vital records was passed to the Skatteverket tax offices. After 1991, the records were organized by the Skatteverket into the current computerized population registration system.

Information Contained
A Personakt is much more than a birth certificate as it encompasses marriage and movement information. It contains also much of the same information as would be found in the many years of församlingsböcker but summarized onto a few pages.

You will find birthdate and place, parents' names and their birthdates and places, a spouse's name (including his or her birthdate and place.) All movements from the time the person was born until 1991 (if applicatable) and the names of the person's children (including their birth dates and places.) This is included in one record of the individual itself.

Essentially, this is a family group sheet created by the government.

How to Obtain a Personakt
Contact the Landsarkivet where your relative died. These archives' contact information can be found on the Archives and Libraries page. Contacting them by email is a simple route detailing the person for whom you would like to order the record.

If the person is still alive, or lived after 1991, one would need to order the file from the landsarkivet where he or she resided in 1991. This sounds complicated, especially with our modern day thinking. This does not have to be the case, though, as the 1990 Swedish Census has been released and is fully searchable. Even if your relative changed addresses between 1990 and 1991, unless the movement was a great distance that person will likely still be found in the personakt of that landsarkivet.

Information which might be good to send in your request:

1) Full name of relative

2) Birthdate and place of relative (if known)

3) Address

4) Personal Identification Number (personnumr)

Be as complete as you can be.

There will be a cost for the research involved. In 2011, the cost was approximately $16 after conversion to United States currency.

Sample:
Personakt Blank Sample