First, annual aggregate data usually do not allow determining for how long individual recipients remain on benefits. Second, aggregate transition rates into and out of benefits say little about whether benefit leavers are likely to return to claim benefits again later on (and if so, how quickly). Section 3 therefore focuses on five countries for which high-quality longitudinal data were made available, allowing individuals to be tracked month by month over a longer period of time: Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden.