1. United Nations Statistics Division
International Family of Classifications
United Nations Statistics Division
EXPERT GROUP MEETING ON INTERNATIONAL STATISTICAL CLASSIFICATIONS
6-8 September 2017, New York

2. Outline Background / Past activities Scope / membership Family website
Issues / Processes
Questions for the EG

3. Background / Past activities
The old concept of the Family of International Classifications:
Was restricted to very few classifications / domains
Included regional and national derived classifications
Did not provide users with knowledge of the existence of classifications in other domains or secondary classifications in the domains covered
Did not provide information about the “quality” of the classifications

4. Background / Past activities
At the 2011, 2013 and 2015 meetings, the Expert Group initiated a process to revise the concept of the Family
The Family should cover international classifications from all statistical domains
These may be:
Classifications that were officially approved as standard classifications by the UNSC (or similar)
Other classifications that are internationally used and have become de-facto standards in their fields
Even if originally created for regional or national purposes
The EG should discuss operational criteria for this !

5. Background / Past activities
Based on a review of statistical standards and frameworks, a draft list of such classifications has been prepared for the 2015 EGM
Detailed information has been collected about these classifications
In the process, some modifications to the draft list have been made, based on feedback from custodians
The current list includes 162 classifications
Data (complete or incomplete) is available for 99 of them

6. UNSD website
The list of classifications in the Family and the information collected is now available on the UNSD website (as a test version)

7. Issues (1)
The classifications in the Family are allocated to statistical domains
A standard form of display groups them according to their allocated domains
To allow users to identify all classifications relevant for a domain
How should allocation to multiple domains be handled?
E.g. for general classifications, like CPC
What about very general classifications, like territorial classifications?

8. Issues (2) The Family focuses on currently operational classifications
Often, the inclusion of previous version may be useful, since statistics are still compiled using those
E.g. ISIC 3, CPCprov
However, the Family is not intended to become a list of all classifications that ever existed
Not realistic
Where do we draw the line?
Can the EG provide operational criteria?

9. Issues (3)
How do we deal with cases where a classification is a de-facto international standard in a domain, but does not meet basic criteria?
How do we incorporate the Grading criteria (agreed to at the last EGM) in the Family?
Is such a statement about the quality of a classification useful and desirable?
How can the EG set up a process for a rigorous review?

10. Questions
Can the EG:
agree on a mechanism to verify that a) the classifications listed are used internationally, even though they may have been created for regional purposes and b) no other internationally used classifications should replace classifications in the current list, resulting in an approval of the current list;
recommend ways and mechanisms to keep the list of classifications in the Family and their respective detailed information up-to-date and discuss a framework for regular update cycles;
comment on the planned approach the handling of multi-domain classifications;
advise on the allocation to sub-domains;
recommend a treatment of general classifications, like country classifications;
discuss the need and boundaries (or suitable criteria) of the inclusion of superseded versions of classifications in the list of the Family;
discuss an adequate procedure and treatment for classifications failing to meet the basic criteria;
comment on the format chosen for displaying the information on the website, including grading information

11. Thank you