What is ISIC Revision 5 and when was it endorsed?

ISIC Revision 5 is the fifth revision of ISIC, and its structure was endorsed by the United Nations Statistical Commission at its fifty fourth session in March 2023 (FIXED). Its introduction and explanatory notes were endorsed by the Statistical Commission at its fifty fifth session in March 2024 (FIXED), as stated in the introduction to ISIC Rev. 5. The United Nations Statistics Division classification detail for ISIC Rev. 5 lists its status as operational, its year adopted as 2024 (FIXED, as listed by the Division), and its custodian as the United Nations Statistics Division.

ISIC Rev. 5 now replaces the fourth version, in use since 2008 (FIXED), as the internationally accepted standard for economic activities.

What did the Statistical Commission endorse, in two steps?

The endorsement happened in two steps, and the two steps should not be collapsed into one date. In March 2023 (FIXED), at its fifty fourth session, the Statistical Commission endorsed the structure of the fifth revision. In March 2024 (FIXED), at its fifty fifth session, the Commission endorsed the introduction and explanatory notes. The structure is the hierarchy of sections, divisions, groups and classes. The introduction and explanatory notes are the text that explains the principles, the rules, and what each category includes and excludes. A category without its note is a code and a title. A category with its note is a defined category. The two step endorsement therefore matters for a reader: a structure endorsed in 2023 (FIXED) without notes is not yet a complete classification for use, and a note endorsed in 2024 (FIXED) is the text that completes it. The Division detail lists the year adopted as 2024 (FIXED), which follows the second endorsement, and that is the year to cite for the adoption of the complete revision.

What reason does the Division give for Rev. 5?

The United Nations Statistics Division states that the fifth revision enhances the relevance of the classification by better reflecting the current structure of the world economy, recognising new industries and new activities that have emerged over the past 15 years, and facilitating international comparison through increased alignment with existing regional classifications. That is the reason given in the Division’s own account, and it should be quoted as such, without adding specific alignment claims that have not been verified. Increased alignment with existing regional classifications is a general statement about the revision’s aim. It is not a statement that every ISIC Rev. 5 category matches a named NACE Rev. 2.1 category, and it is not a correspondence table. A reader who needs the relationship between a specific ISIC Rev. 5 category and a specific NACE Rev. 2.1 category should consult the correspondence between the two classifications, and should record the mapping type shown there.

What is the structure of ISIC Rev. 5?

The Division classification detail gives the structure of ISIC Rev. 5 as four levels: Section, identified by a letter, with 22 items; Division, identified by two digits, with 87 items; Group, identified by three digits, with 258 items; and Class, identified by four digits, with 463 items. Those counts are for ISIC Rev. 5, and they differ from the NACE Rev. 2.1 counts, which are 22 sections, 87 divisions, 287 groups and 651 classes, as adopted. The section and division counts match. The group and class counts do not, because NACE is more detailed than ISIC at lower levels, as Eurostat states. A reader who compares the two structures should therefore compare level by level, and should not assume that a group or class count in one classification equals the count in the other. The table below shows the two structures side by side, at the level where they match and at the levels where they differ.

Level	ISIC Rev. 5 items	NACE Rev. 2.1 items
Section	22	22
Division	87	87
Group	258	287
Class	463	651

The table is a structure comparison, not a correspondence table. It shows how many categories each classification has at each level. It does not show which category in one corresponds to which category in the other. That is the work of a correspondence table, and it is covered in a separate guide in this cluster.

What is the publication status of ISIC Rev. 5?

The United Nations Statistics Division states on its ISIC page that the ISIC Rev. 5 publication is currently undergoing copyediting and preparation for publication, and that the final version of the publication will be provided when available. The Division also lists the manual, the structure, and the structure with explanatory notes as available elements on its classification detail page, in PDF, Excel and CSV formats, and states that the classification is fully available only in English. A reader should therefore distinguish the endorsement, which is complete, from the final publication, which the Division describes as in preparation. A citation to ISIC Rev. 5 should name the version, the endorsement dates, and the document consulted, whether that is the structure file, the explanatory notes file, or the introduction, so that a later reader can tell which document was used.

What does ISIC Rev. 5 not decide?

ISIC Rev. 5 does not determine the code for any reader, and it does not decide tax, licensing, funding, collective agreement or social security questions. It is a statistical classification, and the endorsement by the Statistical Commission is an endorsement of a statistical standard. The national statistical institute or the business register holding the record confirms the entry for a specific business, using the classification version the register uses. The meaning of an ISIC Rev. 5 category is confirmed in the Division publication for that revision.

Record the two endorsement dates separately, cite the document consulted, and confirm a business entry with the institute or register that holds it. ”