NACE Classification

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Definition

NACE (Nomenclature of Economic Activities) is the European statistical classification of economic activities. It is established by law^[1]. The classification consists of an alphanumeric designation of the form DNN.N.N, where D stands for a capital letter A-Z and N are digits 0-9.

The system is hierarchical: at the highest level are broad industrial sectors such as Manufacturing or Mining which are refined at two further levels, i.e. sector, sub-sector and sub-subsector. The hierarchical levels are denoted respectively:

Section: Level 1: 21 sections identified by alphabetical letters A to U;
Division: Level 2: 88 divisions identified by two-digit numerical codes (01 to 99);
Group: Level 3: 272 groups identified by three-digit numerical codes (01.1 to 99.0);
Class: Level 4: 615 classes identified by four-digit numerical codes (01.11 to 99.00).

Example

As an example of an economic sector, Artistic Creation would be classified as:

R - Arts, entertainment and recreation
R90.0 - Creative, arts and entertainment activities
R90.0.3 - Artistic creation

Aggregation Levels

Eurostat SNA NACE Rev.2 (ISIC Rev.4) A*64 to A*10 hierarchies:

A*64: Number based, resolving from 21 to 64 categories
A*36: Leter based, resolving from 21 to 38 categories
A*21: The standard (letter based) hierarchy as per below table
A*10: Grouped as A, B-E, F, G-I, J, K, L, M-N, O-Q, R-U

Top Level NACE Sectors (Sections)

This is the standard NACE Rev. 2 highest level segmentation ^[2]

Section	Title
A	NACE Section A - Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
B	NACE Section B - Mining and Quarrying
C	NACE Section C - Manufacturing
D	NACE Section D - Electricity, Gas, Steam and Air Conditioning Supply
E	NACE Section E - Water Supply, Sewerage, Waste Management and Remediation Activities
F	NACE Section F - Construction
G	NACE Section G - Wholesale and Retail Trade
H	NACE Section H - Transporting and Storage
I	NACE Section I - Accommodation and Food Service Activities
J	NACE Section J - Information and Communication
K	NACE Section K - Financial and Insurance Activities
L	NACE Section L - Real Estate Activities
M	NACE Section M - Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities
N	NACE Section N - Administrative and Support Service Activities
O	NACE Section O - Public Administration and Defence, Compulsory Social Security
P	NACE Section P - Education
Q	NACE Section Q - Human Health and Social Work Activities
R	NACE Section R - Arts, Entertainment and Recreation
S	NACE Section S - Other Service Activities
T	NACE Section T - Activities of Households as Employers
U	NACE Section U - Activities of Extraterritorial Organisations and Bodies

References

↑ Regulation (EC) No. 1893/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 establishing the statistical classification of economic activities NACE Revision 2 and amending Council Regulation (EEC) No. 3037/90 as well as certain EC Regulations on specific statistical domains (OJ L 393, 30.12.2006, p. 1)
↑ NACE Rev. 2, Statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community

[1] Regulation (EC) No. 1893/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 establishing the statistical classification of economic activities NACE Revision 2 and amending Council Regulation (EEC) No. 3037/90 as well as certain EC Regulations on specific statistical domains (OJ L 393, 30.12.2006, p. 1)

[2] NACE Rev. 2, Statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community

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