Country paper on Classification Workshop Presented by: Nasir Ahmed MINISTRY OF PLANNING AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ( MPND ) STATISTICS SECTION Republic of Maldives

Maldives Coding System International classifications systems were first introduced during the 1977 census, to code Industry and Occupation information. There after, international classification systems has been used in coding surveys and census data.

The following are the classifications used. 1.International Standard Classification of Occupations ( ISCO ) 2.International Standard Industrial Classification of all Economic Activities (ISIC ) 3.Central Production Classification ( CPC ) 4.Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose ( COICOP ) 5.International Standard Classification of Education ( ISCED )

ISIC (version 3.0), ISCO (version…) and CPC (version 1.0) are the widely used two among the classifications. CPC was first introduced for Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) The aim was to record and store the consumer product list from household diary for the use of Consumer Price Index basket. CPC along with ISIC and ISCO have been used in all the surveys carried out by the Ministry of Planning, National Development (MPND). COICOP is also used but not widely.

At present MPND does not have separate classification systems, but we incorporate some extensions based on the countrys Industry, Occupation, Product and service categories or items. The survey information are coded in detailed levels given in the classifications, for example, CPC codes are mostly 5 digit level but for food items we have made extra two digit level to capture detailed items level. There are number of difficulties that face we face when using classifications. In ISIC, it is required to code the exact description of the Industry that respondents specified, sometimes more than one related categories or sometimes we do not find an appropriate code hence not else where classified (n.e.c) codes are substituted. Similar problems arise in ISCO.

For example, in Maldives carpenter is a person not specialized but does all sorts of carpentry work, like manufacture of furniture and fixtures. There are different codes, making of doors (ISIC code, 2022), tables (3610), in this case it is hard to give a specific industry code for the carpenter. Under manufacturing category, we face much difficulty since in Maldives we have a local type of manufacturing industry but in most cases repair work and small machinery work are undertaken in a smaller scale. In CPC, we found the category descriptions some times too general but lots of items which we come across are too specific. For example: Incase of dhiyaahakuru (a local product made out of toddy), for this product there is a 5 digit general code which does not fit this product but we need to identify the exact product.

The following are some of these examples: CPC5 CPC7 CPC Description Aata flour, aata fuh Addu bondi Ala, olhu, taro Animal or vegetable fats and oils and their fractions, partly or wholly Annaaru, pomagranade Apollo Apple Apricot, peach or plum stones and kernels Aracanut otherwise preapred Aracanut, Foah, fenfoah fresh or dried in raw form Aracanut, roasted or otherwise prepared Arracanut, fenfoah Aseymirus, pepper Atha Aveli, rice flakes Baby cereal foods, cerelac, nestum etc Baby foods, milupa etc Baby milk powder, enfalac, lactogen, SMA etc Badhan, peanuts fresh or dried

Another difficulty that we face is, when we give codes again we have to give four digit codes for these items. So most of the items are not separated and many items come under one code. Other than these problems, giving the Central Production Activities (CPC), International Standard Industrial Classification of all Economic Activities (ISIC) and International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) codes we face many other problems too.

Some of the problems are listed below. ISICISIC DISCRIPTION 1722 Roanuveshun -Hand made rope using processed coconut husk fanviyun -Making mat etc. using coconut leaves Ruherun (kaashi elhun) -Climbing the coconut tree to get the fruits 1554 Raabeylun -Getting toddy from coconut tree 1549 Havaadhu hedhun -Making spices (different verities) 1554 Juice petty hedhun -Making an ice (solid) drink made out of water, sugar, Milk & essence Lolly hedhun -Making an ice (solid) drink like lolly pop made out of Water, sugar, milk & essence Killi thelhun -Making a mixture of cloves areca nut, Beatle leaf, Cinnamon and sugar for chewing 1549 Hedhibileh hedhun -Sliced areca nut with Beatle leaves, cloves etc for Chewing Foah koshun -Slicing areca nuts Divehi beys -Traditional medicine.

CPCCPC DISCRIPTION Diyaa hakuru -past made out of toddy Divehi beyhuge echihi -Ingredients used to make traditional medicine Ranriheege masakkath kurun- Goldsmith Sathari -Polythene sheet (canvas used as a shelter in dhonis).