Auden's primary concern in this poem is the amount of information modern people allow the State to know about them. Although the poem is entitled "The Unknown Citizen," it lists everything the State knows about "JS/07 M 378," which makes the title somewhat ironic. The State utilizes multiple institutions to keep "records" on its citizens, recording the number of children they have, their opinions, and their employment history. 

The citizen honored by the State epitaph is a person the government perceives as "a saint" because they know there has never been a "complaint" against him. He has always held the "proper opinions for the time of year" -- namely, the opinions held by the state. In the same way, he has allowed the State to educate his children without any interference. 

The level of information the State holds on the citizen in the poem is intended to shine a frightening light on the growing levels of surveillance we accept. The State not only knows how the citizen responds to advertising, what he buys, and where he works; it also employs "Social Psychology workers" to assess his personality and beliefs. 

At the end of the poem, the speaker, presumably an agent of the State, underscores the government's level of knowledge by suggesting that "Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard" -- the State knows everything that happens within its jurisdiction superficially. But there is irony here, too: the State does not care whether people are "free" or "happy," as a good citizen is, to them, simply someone who behaves exactly as directed. 

The situation described in Auden's poem is one where individualism is regarded as worrying, even villainous. The unknown citizen is a "saint" because he cannot be differentiated from any other "Modern Man" of his generation. Rather than having his own opinions and likes or dislikes, the good citizen is encouraged to respond correctly to advertising and purchase the fruits of mass production -- "a phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire." In a capitalist society, citizens are told to purchase certain things to be happy, and the poem's subject is obedient. 

Ironically, this person should have a monument erected to celebrate their life without being named. The monument celebrates not the internal life of a human being but the fact that the State can monitor a person from birth to death and encourage them to behave in a perfectly conventional and conformist way. 

The poem's reference to a "Eugenist" is particularly chilling, given that Auden was writing at the outbreak of World War II when Eugenicists in Germany were attempting to control and reshape their population by eliminating Jews. It is people like the unknown citizen, Auden suggests, who allow such programs to happen. 

The technology described in this poem may not seem very advanced to the modern reader. Still, Auden's references to the items necessary to "the Modern Man" reflect a growing dependence on technology at the time of writing. Subtly, the poem suggests that it is not, of course, necessary to possess "a phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire," as many generations have survived without these, but that a convincing government campaign can drive us to believe we must depend on technology. 

It is developing technology, too, which allows the State to keep such excellent records of its citizens, offering an "Instalment Plan" and reporting on reactions to advertising. The poem suggests that we are encouraged to rely on technology increasingly so that we see it as beneficial and necessary, without realizing that it also contributes to the destruction of our individuality and privacy.