International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC)

Current Version: ISIC Rev. 5

ISIC Rev. 5 was endorsed by the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) at its 54th session in March 2023. Countries are expected to begin adapting their national classifications and business registers between 2025 and 2026 and from 2027 begin implementing ISIC Rev. 5 their statistical releases.

Changes between ISIC Rev. 4 and ISIC Rev. 5

While the coding system remains unchanged, ISIC Rev. 5 contains more detail than ISIC Rev. 4 at all classification levels. At the higher level, some sections of ISIC Rev. 4 were reconstituted in ISIC Rev. 5 leading to the relocation of activities across sections. At the lower level, concepts were minor revisions and clarifications were made to facilitate international comparability. Notable changes in ISIC Rev. 5 are as follows:

• In light of its growing significance, 18 new classes related to intermediation service activities have been added to different sections of ISIC Rev. 5. This includes, for example, classes 3540 (Activities of brokers and agents for electric power and natural gas), 6821 (Intermediation service activities for real estate), and 8791 (Intermediation service activities for residential care activities).

• In Section G (Wholesale and retail trade) the distinction between in-store and online retailing in ISIC Rev. 4 has been removed in ISIC Rev. 5. Consequently, the ISIC Rev. 4 groups 478 (Retail sale via stalls and markets) and 479 (Retail trade not in stores, stalls or markets) have been dropped in ISIC Rev. 5 and the activities relocated to existing categories in retail trade.

• Section J (Information and communication) of ISIC Rev. 4 has been broken into two new sections in ISIC Rev. 5 which are Section J (Publishing, broadcasting, and content production and distribution activities) and Section K (Telecommunications, computer programming, consultancy, computing infrastructure and other information service activities). Both new sections are constituted mainly by existing divisions.

• ISIC Rev. 4 Section K (Financial and insurance activities) has been renamed to Section L in ISIC Rev. 5 (due to the above-mentioned split of the former Section J). Nine new classes were also created in this section following the further splitting of ISIC Rev.4 classes.

• Following the above-mentioned split of ISIC Rev. 4 Section K, the proceeding sections of ISIC Rev. 4 have been renamed in ISIC Rev. 5. That is, former Section K became Section L in ISIC Rev 5; former Section L became Section M; former Section M became Section N, and so on. There are also several cases of class mergers, splits, and redefinitions cutting across Sections.

Structure of ISIC Rev. 5

ISIC Rev. 5 has a hierarchical four-level structure, with the degree of specificity increasing at each level as follows:

• Sections: 22 sections represented by the English letters A to V. This is the broadest categorization in ISIC Rev. 5. For example, the letter H represents "Transportation and storage".

• Divisions: 87 divisions represented by two-digit numeric codes. For example, code 50 represents "Water transport".

• Groups: 258 groups represented by three-digit codes. For example, code 501 represents "Sea and coastal water transport".

• Classes: 463 classes represented by four-digit codes. This is the most specific classification in ISIC Rev. 5. E.g. code 5011 represents "Sea and coastal passenger water transport".

The table below shows the number of activities in the divisions, groups and classes related to each of the 22 sections in the ISIC. The manufacturing section (A) is the most diverse at the finest level of detail with its 141 classes accounting for 30% of all classes in ISIC. The high number of activities within manufacturing reflects the existence of various types of goods with peculiar production processes. For example, the manufacturing group 110 covering "manufacture of beverages" is split into five classes including, among others, the manufacture of wines (1102), beers (1103), and malt (1104). The "Wholesale and retail trade" and "Agriculture, forestry and fishing" sections (G and A) are also diverse with 41 and 39 classes respectively. These top three sections together account for 47% of the total number of ISIC classes.

Previous versions

ISIC Rev. 4

ISIC Rev. 4 was endorsed by the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) at its 37th session in March 2006. Actual implementation across countries began at different times.

Changes between ISIC Rev. 3.1 and ISIC Rev. 4

While there were no major methodological changes in ISIC Rev. 4, several changes were made across classification levels, prominent of which are as follows:

• Sections A (Agriculture, hunting and forestry) and B (Fishing) of ISIC Rev. 3.1 were merged to form a new Section A (Agriculture, forestry and fishing) in ISIC Rev. 4. This new section also contained substantially more detail with 38 classes compared to 11 in ISIC Rev 3.1.

• Section C (Manufacturing) of ISIC Rev. 4 added new divisions for key new activities like 21 (Manufacture of pharmaceuticals, medicinal chemical and botanical products) and 26 (Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products). ISIC 3.1 divisions 22 (Publishing, printing and reproduction of recorded media) and 37 (Recycling) were relocated to other sections.

• A new Section E (Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities) was created in ISIC Rev. 4 made up of sanitation-related activities from ISIC Rev. 3.1.

• A new Section J (Information and communication) was created in ISIC Rev. 4 bringing together divisions from the ISIC Rev. 3.1 sections D (Manufacturing), I (Transport, storage and communications), K (Real estate, renting and business activities) and O (Other community, social and personal service activities). This introduction therefore significantly affected the comparability of ISIC Rev. 3.1 and ISIC Rev. 4.

• The ISIC Rev. 3.1 Section K (Real estate, renting and business activities) was split into three sections in ISIC Rev. 4 which are Section L (Real estate), Section M (Professional, scientific and technical activities), and Section N (Administrative and support service activities).

Structure of ISIC Rev. 4

ISIC Rev. 4 had a hierarchical four-level structure, with the degree of specificity increasing at each level as follows:

• Sections: 21 sections represented by the English letters A to V. This is the broadest categorization in ISIC Rev. 4.

• Divisions: 88 divisions represented by two-digit numeric codes.

• Groups: 238 groups represented by three-digit codes.

• Classes: 419 classes represented by four-digit codes. This is the most specific classification in ISIC Rev. 4.

ISIC Rev. 3.1

ISIC Rev. 3.1 was endorsed by the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) at its 23rd session in March 2002. Actual implementation across countries began at different times.

Changes between ISIC Rev. 3 and ISIC Rev. 3.1

ISIC Rev 3.1 was a minor update to ISIC Rev. 3 not involving changes in the main structure. In light of industrial evolution across countries in the decade since ISIC Rev. 3 was issued, ISIC Rev. 3.1 focused on providing richer explanatory notes reflecting the emerging activities at the time. Moreover, considering that the presentation of data on particular subjects using the ISIC framework often involves combining different activities, ISIC Rev. 3.1 defined "alternative aggregations" for the information sector, the information and communication technologies (ICT) sector and the informal sector. As for the classifications, three ISIC Rev. 3 groups were split to form seven new classes in ISIC Rev. 3.1. Two new divisions related to production activities by private households were also added to ISIC Rev 3.1.

Structure of ISIC Rev. 3.1

ISIC Rev. 3.1 had a hierarchical four-level structure, with the degree of specificity increasing at each level as follows:

• Sections: 17 sections represented by the English letters A to Q.

• Divisions: 62 divisions represented by two-digit numeric codes.

• Groups: 161 groups represented by three-digit codes.

• Classes: 298 classes represented by four-digit codes.

ISIC Rev. 3

ISIC Rev. 3 was endorsed by the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) at its 25th session in February 1989. Actual implementation across countries began at different times.

Changes between ISIC Rev. 2 and ISIC Rev. 3

ISIC Rev. 3 introduced new names for each of the four classification levels. While under ISIC Rev. 2 they were each called Major Division, Division, and Major Group, and Group, ISIC Rev. 3 renamed each level to Section, Division, Group, and Class. The above renaming came with greater detail across most areas reflected in the number of activities at the finest classification level expanding from 160 in ISIC Rev. 2 to 292 in ISIC Rev. 3. The services sectors in particular were expanded to better reflect the growing importance of services in the global economy. ISIC Rev. 3 introduced new classes for services like information technology, financial services, and other business-related services, which were either absent or aggregated in ISIC Rev. 2.

Structure of ISIC Rev. 3

ISIC Rev. 3 had a hierarchical four-level structure, with the degree of specificity increasing at each level as follows:

• Sections: 17 tabulation categories represented by the English letters A to Q.

• Divisions: 60 divisions represented by two-digit numbers.

• Groups: 159 groups represented by three-digit numbers.

• Classes: 292 classes represented by four-digit numbers.

ISIC Rev. 2

ISIC Rev. 2 was endorsed by the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) at its 15th session in 1968. Actual implementation across countries began at different times.

Changes between ISIC Rev. 1 and ISIC Rev. 2

ISIC Rev. 2 increased the number of classification levels to four (from three in ISIC Rev. 1) with the addition of the Division level. Consequently, ISIC Rev. 2 involved a substantial reorganization of items from ISIC Rev. 1. This was especially so for Manufacturing (Major Division 3) which was significantly expanded in ISIC Rev. 2 with greater detail reflecting the diversification of manufacturing processes in the 1960s.

Structure of ISIC Rev. 2

ISIC Rev. 2 had a hierarchical four-level structure, with the degree of specificity increasing at each level as follows:

• Major Divisions: Nine Major Divisions numbered from 1 to 9.

• Divisions: 33 Divisions represented by two-digit numbers (11-99).

• Major Groups: 72 Major groups represented by three-digit numbers (111-960).

• Groups: 160 Groups represented by four-digit numbers (1110-9600).

ISIC Rev. 1

ISIC Rev. 1 was endorsed by the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) at its 10th session in 1958. Actual implementation across countries began at different times.

Changes between ISIC Rev. 0 and ISIC Rev. 1

Most of the change between ISIC Rev. 0 and ISIC Rev. 1 were in the Manufacturing Divisions 2-3 and services Division 8 into which some ISIC Rev. 0 groups were relocated or split, among other changes. ISIC Rev. 1 also improved comparability with other international classification systems, allowing for better cross-country analysis of economic data.

Structure of ISIC Rev. 1

ISIC Rev. 1 had a hierarchical three-level structure, with the degree of specificity increasing at each level as follows:

• Divisions: Nine Divisions represented by single-digit numbers between 0 and 9 except the Manufacturing Division (2-3) which was represented by two one-digit numbers.

• Major Groups: 45 Major groups represented by two-digit numbers (01-90).

• Groups: 160 Groups represented by three-digit numbers (011-900).

ISIC Rev. 0

ISIC Rev. 0 was endorsed by the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) at its 7th session in 1948. Actual implementation across countries began at different times. This first edition of ISIC set out to provide a standard classification system for economic activities across different countries to facilitate the comparison and aggregation of economic data on an international scale. ISIC Rev. 0 was relatively simple, reflecting the economic structures of the time, which were heavily focused on agriculture, mining, manufacturing, and basic services. ISIC Rev. 0 was widely adopted by national statistical agencies and international organizations, becoming the foundation for economic data collection and reporting.

Structure of ISIC Rev. 0

ISIC Rev. 0 had a hierarchical three-level structure, with the degree of specificity increasing at each level as follows:

• Divisions: Nine Divisions represented by single-digit number between 0 and 9 except the Manufacturing Division which was represented by two one-digit numbers (2-3).

• Major Groups: 44 Major groups represented by two-digit numbers (01-90).

• Groups: 113 Groups represented by three-digit numbers (010-900).

Where is it used?

The ISIC system is the global reference for classifying economic activities. Many national statistical agencies and regulatory authorities use ISIC to classify businesses and economic activities in their national censuses, surveys, and other statistical data collection processes. This allows for consistent reporting of economic data across different regions and periods and facilitates the analysis and comparison of economic data across countries. International organizations like the United Nations (which maintains the system), the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, among others, use ISIC in their statistical releases. The United Nations Industrial Development Organization for example provides the widely used INDSTAT database which compiles industry-level statistics for most countries of the world at the four ISIC classification levels. In the private sector, companies and analysts use ISIC codes to classify industries and sectors in the process of market research, investment analysis, and economic forecasting. ISIC is also used widely in academic research across disciplines, examples of which are highlighted below:

• Alternative Aggregations: Beyond the "alternative aggregations" provided in the ISIC documentation, researchers have aggregated ISIC codes to define economic sectors of interest in specific countries (such as the "orange economy" in Jordan) and to trace their evolution over time.

• Industrial Wastewater: Beyond industrial and economic analysis, water researchers have used ISIC codes as the basis to assess the chemical composition of industrial wastewater.

• Occupational Risk: ISIC codes have been used in epidemiological studies to group individuals and assess their exposure to certain occupational risks using job-exposure matrices.

Upcoming version

Considering the recent release of ISIC Rev. 5 in 2023, the timeline for its implementation across countries, and the years between previous versions of ISIC, another major review of ISIC can be expected in the next 15-20 years. However, minor updates could come sooner. The UN Statistical Commission started seeking opinions for future ISICs and respondents have identified the classification of activities related to climate change, digitalization, and crypto assets, among other emerging activities.

Further resources

Download ISIC

• ISIC Rev. 5 (Current) - Code File - Excel

• ISIC Rev. 5 - Manual

• ISIC Rev. 4 - Code File - Txt

• ISIC Rev. 4 - Manual

• ISIC Rev. 3.1 - Code File - Txt

• ISIC Rev. 3.1 - Manual

• ISIC Rev. 3 - Code File - Txt

• ISIC Rev. 3 - Manual

• ISIC Rev. 2 - Code File - Txt

• ISIC Rev. 2 - Manual

• ISIC Rev. 1 - Manual

• ISIC Rev. 0 - Manual

Other resources

• Andrea't Mannetje and Hans Kromhout. The use of occupation and industry classifications in general population studies.

• Nayeon Kim and Others. A Classification Scheme of Wearable Devices for the Identification of Strategic Market Segment.

• United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA). Implementation Plan for ISIC Rev. 5.

• Serena Sandri and Nooh Alshyab. Orange Economy: definition and measurement – the case of Jordan.

• Vicenç Acuna and others. Could we estimate industrial wastewater flows composition using the UN-ISIC classification system?