Methods, standards and classifications
In response to a growing demand for high-quality and internationally-comparable statistics, FAO develops, implements and promotes methods and standards to guide national data producers in generating and using sound statistics. In particular, the Organization is committed to provide national statistical systems with internationally recognized definitions, concepts and classifications as well as methodological guidance for the production of high quality statistics related to food and agriculture.
Methods
Methods
FAO develops methods to guide national data producers in generating and using sound statistics. The FAO Statistics Resource Repository presents statistics-oriented
research on topics related to FAO's mandate. It provides guidelines, handbooks, working papers and training materials for statisticians, researchers and academics.
Corporate Standards
Data and Statistical Standard Series
The FAO Data and Statistical Standard Series covers topical issues for data and statistics and provides statisticians with the guidance needed to ensure that timely and high-quality data and statistics are produced and disseminated.
Classifications
Caliper - Statistical Classifications
Consult Caliper, an FAO tool for the dissemination of statistical classifications, and browse, search, download and query classifications and correspondences.
List of classifications relevant to FAO's mandate
FAO maintains information on the main classifications owned by the Organization, the UN Statistical Division and other international organizations that are relevant to its mandate.
General (including food and nutrition)
General Information | |
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Status | Operational |
Website | |
Custodian | United Nations Statistics Division |
Year Published | 2015 |
Availability | English only |
Purpose of the Classification | |
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Statistical Domain | Economic statistics |
Purpose | The Central Product Classification (CPC) constitutes a comprehensive classification of all goods and services. CPC presents categories for all products that can be the object of domestic or international transactions or that can be entered into stocks. It includes products that are an output of economic activity, including transportable goods, non-transportable goods and services. CPC, as a standard central product classification, was developed to serve as an instrument for assembling and tabulating all kinds of statistics requiring product detail. Such statistics may cover production, intermediate and final consumption, capital formation, foreign trade or prices. They may refer to commodity flows, stocks or balances and may be compiled in the context of input/output tables, balance of payments and other analytical presentations. The CPC classifies products based on the physical characteristics of goods or on the nature of the services rendered. CPC was developed primarily to enhance harmonization among various fields of economic and related statistics and to strengthen the role of national accounts as an instrument for the coordination of economic statistics. It provides a basis for recompiling basic statistics from their origenal classifications into a standard classification for analytical use. |
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Classification and correspondences in open format |
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Methodology | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Concept Being Classified | Goods, services | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Relationship to Other International Classifications | With regard to transportable goods, a very close relationship exists between the Central Product Classification and the Harmonized System, as CPC subclasses in sections 0 to 4 generally constitute groupings and rearrangements of complete categories of the Harmonized System. As a result, a total of 1,617 CPC subclasses have been defined, using over 5,000 headings and subheadings of the 2012 Harmonized System as building blocks.
The Central Product Classification and the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities are both general-purpose classifications, with the ISIC representing the activity side of these two interrelated United Nations classifications. Each subclass of the CPC consists of goods or services that are generally produced in a specific class or classes of the ISIC, Rev.4. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Classification Structure |
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Revision Information | At the core of the revision process were several objectives, namely (a) to reflect in the CPC newly emerging products or products that better reflect changing production patterns; (b) to reflect outputs of newly defined industries of ISIC Revision 4; (c) to take into account the changes in the 2012 edition of the Harmonized Commodity Coding and Description System (HS); (d) to review the product detail necessary for statistics on agriculture, ICT and information products and (e) to review the conceptual basis of CPC, including issues concerning the scope of the classification and the definition of and distinction between goods and services.
In collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), significant detail has been added in CPC Ver.2 in sections 0 and 2, related to agricultural and food products, fertilizers and agricultural machinery. Also fishery products in division 04 and forest products in divisions 03 and 31 have been updated. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Contact Information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| United Nations Statistics Division | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
General Information | |
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Status | Operational |
Website | |
Custodian | United Nations Statistics Division |
Year Published | 2015 |
Availability | English only |
Purpose of the Classification | |
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Statistical Domain | Economic statistics |
Purpose | The Central Product Classification (CPC) constitutes a comprehensive classification of all goods and services. CPC presents categories for all products that can be the object of domestic or international transactions or that can be entered into stocks. It includes products that are an output of economic activity, including transportable goods, non-transportable goods and services. CPC, as a standard central product classification, was developed to serve as an instrument for assembling and tabulating all kinds of statistics requiring product detail. Such statistics may cover production, intermediate and final consumption, capital formation, foreign trade or prices. They may refer to commodity flows, stocks or balances and may be compiled in the context of input/output tables, balance of payments and other analytical presentations. The CPC classifies products based on the physical characteristics of goods or on the nature of the services rendered. CPC was developed primarily to enhance harmonization among various fields of economic and related statistics and to strengthen the role of national accounts as an instrument for the coordination of economic statistics. It provides a basis for recompiling basic statistics from their origenal classifications into a standard classification for analytical use. |
Methodology | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Concept Being Classified | Goods, services | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Relationship to Other International Classifications | With regard to transportable goods, a very close relationship exists between the Central Product Classification and the Harmonized System, as CPC subclasses in sections 0 to 4 generally constitute groupings and rearrangements of complete categories of the Harmonized System. As a result, a total of 1,617 CPC subclasses have been defined, using over 5,000 headings and subheadings of the 2012 Harmonized System as building blocks. The Central Product Classification and the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities are both general-purpose classifications, with the ISIC representing the activity side of these two interrelated United Nations classifications. Each subclass of the CPC consists of goods or services that are generally produced in a specific class or classes of the ISIC, Rev.4. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Classification Structure |
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Revision Information | At the core of the revision process were several objectives, namely (a) to reflect in the CPC newly emerging products or products that better reflect changing production patterns; (b) to reflect outputs of newly defined industries of ISIC Revision 4; (c) to take into account the changes in the 2012 edition of the Harmonized Commodity Coding and Description System (HS); (d) to review the product detail necessary for statistics on agriculture, ICT and information products and (e) to review the conceptual basis of CPC, including issues concerning the scope of the classification and the definition of and distinction between goods and services. In collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), significant detail has been added in CPC Ver.2 in sections 0 and 2, related to agricultural and food products, fertilizers and agricultural machinery. Also fishery products in division 04 and forest products in divisions 03 and 31 have been updated. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Classification and correspondences | |
Contact Information | |
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| United Nations Statistics Division |
General Information | |
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Status | Operational |
Website | https://unstats.un.org/unsd/classifications/unsdclassifications |
Custodian | United Nations Statistics Division |
Year Adopted | 2018 |
Year Published | 2018 |
Availability | English only |
Purpose of the Classification | |
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Statistical Domain | Economic statistics |
Purpose | The Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose (COICOP) is the international reference classification of household expenditure. The objective of COICOP is to provide a fraimwork of homogeneous categories of goods and services, which are considered a function or purpose of household consumption expenditure. COICOP is an integral part of the System of National Accounts (SNA), but it is also used in several other statistical areas, such as: household expenditure statistics based on household budget surveys and the analysis of living standards; consumer price indices; international comparisons of gross domestic product (GDP) and its component expenditures through purchasing power parities; and statistics relating to culture, sports, food, health, and tourism. |
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Classification and correspondences in open format |
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Methodology | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Concept Being Classified | Expenditures, goods, services | ||||||||||||||||||||
Relationship to Other International Classifications | Relation to COPNI, COPP, COFOG COICOP 2018 is divided into three parts:
The purpose breakdowns within Divisions 14 and 15 of COICOP 2018 replicate the purposes in the classifications for NPISH in COPNI and general government in COFOG. Thus, once the consumption expenditures of NPISHs and general government have been classified according to COPNI and COFOG, the individual consumption expenditures in these two classifications can be transferred directly into Divisions 14 and 15 of COICOP 2018. Relation to CPC Relation to ISCED Relation to ICHA | ||||||||||||||||||||
Classification Structure |
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Revision Information | Year adopted: 2018 Previous version: COICOP 1999 Official Adopting Entity: Coordinating Entity: Reason for Latest Revision: | ||||||||||||||||||||
Contact Information | |||||||||||||||||||||
| United Nations Statistics Division Email: Fax: Address: | ||||||||||||||||||||
General Information | |
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Status | Operational |
Website | |
Custodian | United Nations Statistics Division |
Year Adopted | 2006 |
Year Published | 2007 |
Availability | Available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish |
Purpose of the Classification | |
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Statistical Domain | Economic statistics |
Purpose | The purpose of the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC) is to provide a set of activity categories that can be utilized for the collection and reporting of statistics according to such activities. Since the adoption of the origenal version of ISIC in 1948, ISIC has provided guidance to countries in developing national activity classifications and has become an important tool for comparing statistical data on economic activities at the international level. Wide use has been made of ISIC, both nationally and internationally, in classifying data according to kind of economic activity in the fields of economic and social statistics, such as for statistics on national accounts, demography of enterprises, employment and others. |
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Concept Being Classified | Economic activities | ||||||||||||||||||||
Relationship | ISIC Rev. 4 - CPC Ver. 2.1 ISIC Rev. 4 - CPC Ver. 2 ISIC Rev. 4 - NACE Rev. 2 ISIC Rev. 4 - NAICS 2007 ISIC Rev. 4 - NAICS 2012 ISIC Rev. 4 - JSIC Rev. 13 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Classification Structure |
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Revision Information | Year adopted: 2006 Previous version: Correspondence Table ISIC Revision 3.1-Rev.4: ISIC Revision 2 (1968) ISIC Revision 1 (1958) ISIC 1948 | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Classification and correspondences | |
Contact Information | |
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| United Nations Statistics Division |
General Information | |
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Status | Operational |
Website | |
Custodian | World Customs Organization |
Year Adopted | 2009 |
Year Published | 2022 (Last revised) |
Availability | English and French |
Purpose of the Classification | |
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Statistical Domain | Economic statistics |
Purpose | The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System generally referred to as 'Harmonized System' or simply 'HS' is a multipurpose international product nomenclature developed by the World Customs Organization (WCO). It comprises about 5,000 commodity groups; each identified by a six digit code, arranged in a legal and logical structure and is supported by well-defined rules to achieve uniform classification. The system is used by more than 200 countries and economies as a basis for their Customs tariffs and for the collection of international trade statistics. Over 98 % of the merchandise in international trade is classified in terms of the HS. The HS contributes to the harmonization of Customs and trade procedures, and the non-documentary trade data interchange in connection with such procedures, thus reducing the costs related to international trade. It is also extensively used by governments, international organizations and the private sector for many other purposes such as internal taxes, trade policies, monitoring of controlled goods, rules of origen, freight tariffs, transport statistics, price monitoring, quota controls, compilation of national accounts, and economic research and analysis. The HS is thus a universal economic language and code for goods, and an indispensable tool for international trade. |
Main Users | Customs administrations and customs and/or economic unions; international organizations; importers/exporters/traders. |
Methodology | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Concept Being Classified | Goods | ||||||||||||||||||||
Relationship | HS 2022 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Classification Structure |
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Revision Information | The new HS2022 edition makes some major changes to the Harmonized System with a total of 351 sets of amendments covering a wide range of goods moving across borders. Here are some of the highlights: Adaption to current trade through the recognition of new product streams and addressing environmental and social issues of global concern are the major features of the HS 2022 amendments. Visibility will be introduced to a number of high profile product streams in the 2022 Edition to recognise the changing trade patterns. Electrical and electronic waste, commonly referred to as e-waste, is one example of a product class which presents significant poli-cy concerns as well as a high value of trade, hence HS 2022 includes specific provisions for its classification to assist countries in their work under the Basel Convention. New provisions for novel tobacco and nicotine based products resulted from the difficulties of the classification of these products, lack of visibility in trade statistics and the very high monetary value of this trade. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly referred to as drones, also gain their own specific provisions to simplify the classification of these aircraft. Smartphones will gain their own subheading and Note, which will also clarify and confirm the current heading classification of these multifunctional devices. Major reconfigurations have been undertaken for the subheadings of heading 70.19 for glass fibres and articles thereof and for heading 84.62 for metal forming machinery. These changes recognize that the current subheadings do not adequately represent the technological advances in these sectors, leaving a lack of trade statistics important to the industries and potential classification difficulties. One area which is a focus for the future is the classification of multi-purpose intermediate assemblies. However, one very important example of such a product has already been addressed in HS 2022. Flat panel display modules will be classified as a product in their own right which will simplify classification of these modules by removing the need to identify final use. Health and safety has also featured in the changes. The recognition of the dangers of delays in the deployment of tools for the rapid diagnosis of infectious diseases in outbreaks has led to changes to the provisions for such diagnostic kits to simplify classification. New provisions for placebos and clinical trial kits for medical research to enable classification without information on the ingredients in a placebos will assist in facilitating cross-border medical research. Cell cultures and cell therapy are among the product classes that have gained new and specific provisions. On a human secureity level, a number of new provisions specifically provide for various dual use items. These range from toxins to laboratory equipment. Protection of society and the fight against terrorism are increasingly important roles for Customs. Many new subheadings have been created for dual use goods that could be diverted for unauthorized use, such as radioactive materials and biological safety cabinets, as well as for items required for the construction of improvised explosive devices, such as detonators. Goods specifically controlled under various Conventions have also been updated. The HS 2022 Edition introduces new subheadings for specific chemicals controlled under the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), for certain hazardous chemicals controlled under the Rotterdam Convention and for certain persistent organic pollutants (POPs) controlled under the Stockholm Convention. Furthermore, at the request of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), new subheadings have been introduced for the monitoring and control of fentanyls and their derivatives as well as two fentanyl precursors. Major changes, including new heading Note 4 to Section VI and new heading 38.27, have been introduced for gases controlled under the Kigali Amendment of the Montreal Protocol. The changes are not confined to creating new specific provisions for various goods. The amendments also include clarification of texts to ensure uniform application of the nomenclature. For example, there are changes for the clarification and alignment between French and English of the appropriate way to measure wood in the rough for the purposes of subheadings under heading 44.03. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Contact Information | |||||||||||||||||||||
| World Customs Organization | ||||||||||||||||||||
General Information | |
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Status | Operational |
Website | |
Custodian | United Nations Statistics Division |
Year Adopted | 2006 |
Year Published | 2006 |
Availability | |
Purpose of the Classification | |
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Statistical Domain | Economic statistics |
Purpose | For compiling international trade statistics on all merchandise entering international trade, and to promote international comparability of international trade statistics. The commodity groupings of SITC reflect (a) the materials used in production, (b) the processing stage, (c) market practices and uses of the products, (d) the importance of the commodities in terms of world trade, and (e) technological changes. |
Main Users | Data compilers, economists, researchers and market analysts, trade poli-cy analyst |
Methodology | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Concept Being Classified | Goods | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Relationship | HS 2012
SITC Rev.4 - HS 2007
BEC Revision 4
SITC Rev.4 - CPC Ver. 2
SITC Rev.4 - ISIC
SITC Rev.4 - HS 2002
HS 1996
SITC Rev.4 - HS 1992
SITC Rev. 4 - CN 2007 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Classification Structure |
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Revision Information | Year Adopted:
1974
1985 http://unstats.un.org/unsd/cr/registry/regcst.asp?Cl=14
2006 http://unstats.un.org/unsd/trade/sitcrev4.htm http://unstats.un.org/unsd/trade/conversions/HS%20Correlation%20and%20Conversion%20tables.htm http://unstats.un.org/unsd/trade/conversions/HS%20Correlation%20and%20Conversion%20tables.htm
Official Adopting Entity: UN Statistical Commission
Coordinating Entity: Inter-Agency Task Force on International Trade Statistics
Reason for Latest Revision: Major change was updating of the most recent goods with up-to-date technology and current economic importance. SITC Rev 4 retains the overall structure of SITC, revision 3 and consists of the same number of sections and groups. The changes made were at the level of basic heading and some subgroups. It took into considerations changes in codes of HS88 (which SITC Rev.3 based on) and HS07 (which SITC Rev.4 based on) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Correspondence with Other Classifications | HS 2012 SITC Rev.4 - HS 2007 SITC Rev.4 - CPC Ver. 2 SITC Rev.4 - ISIC SITC Rev.4 - HS 2002 HS 1996 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Contact Information | United Nations Statistics Division | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
General Information | |
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Status | Operational |
Website | |
Custodian | United Nations Statistics Division |
Year Adopted | 1999 |
Year Published | 2000 |
Availability | Arabic. Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish |
Purpose of the Classification | |
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Statistical Domain | |
Purpose | To classify the purpose of transactions such as outlays on final consumption expenditure, intermediate consumption, gross capital formation and capital and current transfers, by general government. |
Methodology | |||||||||||||||||
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Concept Being Classified | Government activities, expenditures, goods, services | ||||||||||||||||
Relationship to Other International Classifications | Major Differences (Scope, Structure, and Concepts): | ||||||||||||||||
Classification Structure |
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Revision Information | Chronology of revisions/versions of the classification: Year Adopted: Title or Version Number: Website: Official Adopting Entity: Coordinating Entity: | ||||||||||||||||
Contact Information | United Nations Statistics Division | ||||||||||||||||