National Classifications

International statistical classifications serve primarily two purposes:

• They are the basis for international data statistical collections and ensure the comparabiltity of data provided by countries around the world.
• They serve as a guideline for countries to develop their own national classifications.

In some countries, the international classifications are used without modification, highlighting also the universal applicability of the structure and detail of these classifications. In other countries, modifications have been made to the international classifications to make them more suitable for national purposes. This often takes the form of addign additional detail to the classification structure, for instance to allow data colelction on specific products that have a high importance in the country, but are not important enough to be included in an international stadard classification. In other cases, the structure of the international classification has been collapsed (usually in some areas only), for example to account for the fact that certain industries are too small to warrant a further breakdown.

UNSD has carried out surveys on the actual use of classifications in countries to monitor the implementation of international statistical classifications and to obtain an overview of (a) adjustments that countries make to these classifications for national purposes, (b) the applications of these classifications and (c) the revision plans that countries have for such classifications.

The last survey was started in 2012, but countries have continued to submit updates. A next round of this survey was planned for 2018, but has not yet started.

UNSD's national classifications database contains information on 474 current classifications from 125 countries. These represent primarily classifications of activities, products, occupations and expenditures, but also ionclude health and education classifications for some countries.

The document below shows a list of the classifications for which information is included in the database.