2901.0 - Census Dictionary, 2011  
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2011 Census Dictionary >> Glossary >> Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC)


Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC)

The Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) is a classification that provides a framework for organising data about businesses by grouping business units carrying out similar productive activities. ANZSIC was first published in 1993 and was revised for 2006. ANZSIC 2006 was released in February 2006. Minor revisions to ANZSIC 2006 were released in September 2008. Industry of employment questions in the 2011 Census are coded using the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 2006, Revision 1. The revision to ANZSIC 2006, that was released in 2008, was minor, with no changes to the scope, concepts and structure of the classification.

ANZSIC is a hierarchical classification with four levels, namely divisions (the broadest level), subdivisions, groups and classes (the finest level). At the divisional level, the main purpose is to provide a limited number of categories which will provide a broad overall picture of the economy. The subdivision, group and class levels provide increasingly detailed dissections of the broad categories. The following table provides an illustration of the hierarchical structure of ANZSIC.

Hierarchical levelCode Description

Division EConstruction
Sub-division30Building Construction
Group 301Residential Building Construction
Class3011House Construction


The development of ANZSIC 2006 involved a substantial review of the classification, including extensive consultation with internal and external users and alignment with the upcoming revision of the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC, Revision 4). It consequently provides a more contemporary and internationally comparable industrial classification system.


The method for classifying units to categories in the ANZSIC is to classify each unit according to its predominant activity. If a unit is undertaking multiple activities, the concept of Value Added is used to determine the predominant activity, i.e. the activity with the highest value added is the predominant activity. At each level of the classification, a unit can be classified to only one category.

For the 2011 Census, employed persons are coded to an ANZSIC class according to the predominant activity of their employer, and the main goods produced, or main services provided, by the employer's business. This information is sourced from Questions 42 and 43 on the Census form.

A modified version of the ANZSIC classification is used for the Census which incorporates not further defined (nfd) classes in addition to the normal defined classes. These nfd classes have unique four digit codes and can represent any one of the four levels of the classification. They are a device to facilitate the coding of businesses for which insufficient information has been provided to enable coding to a defined class.

An example of an nfd class is 'Class 2510: Furniture Manufacturing, nfd'. This class may apply if the response to the industry questions on the Census form were 'furniture manufacturing', that is, it could not be determined which one of the following defined classes of group 251 actually applies:
  • Class 2511 Wooden Furniture and Upholstered Seat Manufacturing
  • Class 2512 Metal Furniture Manufacturing.

For more information refer to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (cat. no. 1292.0).

See also Industry of Employment (INDP).






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