Time Series

What is NACE ?

NACE (Nomenclature of Economic Activities) is the European statistical classification of economic activities. It provides a reference framework for the production and the dissemination of statistics related to economic activities. Statistics produced on the basis of NACE are comparable at European level and, in general, at world level in line with the United Nations' International Standard Industrial Classification of all Economic Activities (ISIC).

Why the change to NACE rev.2 ?

Since May 2010, DG ECFIN publishes business survey data according to the new NACE rev.2 classification. The move to NACE rev.2 is part of the European Commission's ongoing agenda to update the production of EU statistics. It is compulsory for all statistics classified according to economic activities produced by the Commission or Member States (EC Regulation No 1893/2006). For the business survey data, the change in the identification and grouping of similar economic activities associated with the move to the new NACE implies a statistical break in the time series. Checks indicate that the magnitude of this break may in some cases be sizeable.

How have NACE rev.2 long term series been rebuilt ?

Partner institutes in the Joint Harmonised Business and Consimer Surveys have been invited to provide DG ECFIN with long NACE rev.2 series. This has implied a process of back-casting to transform the historic NACE rev.1.1 series into NACE rev.2 series, so that continuous long NACE rev.2 series can be made available.

The Commission has carried out an in-depth process of evaluation and statistical treatment of part of the back-cast series sent by partner institutes. This validation has covered at the aggregate level (i.e. "total sector") and at Main Industrial Grouping (MIG) level (i.e. consumer goods, intermediate goods, investment goods, etc). The output is a DG ECFIN's validated database which includes NACE rev.2 series that are (i) continuous (i.e. without spurious breaks due to changes in nomenclature) and (ii) as long as possible.

Methodological details related to the validation process are available in this note.

What is the effect on the availability for download of business survey series?

DG ECFIN's validated database includes long historical NACE rev. 2 business survey series at the aggregate level (i.e. "total sector") and at Main Industrial Grouping (MIG) level.

Except for consumer and financial services surveys, which are not affected by the change to NACE rev.2, seasonally adjusted NACE rev.2 long historical series at subsector level (i.e. the divisions of NACE rev.2 at the 2-digit level which include, for instance, "Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products") are available through a separate database. These series are based on the back-cast data sent by partner institutes, seasonally adjusted by DG ECFIN. As these series have not undergone a full validation process, their use and interpretation deserve more caution. The database does not include EU and euro-area aggregates which will be made available during autumn 2011.

NACE rev.2 series at aggregate level, as originally provided by our Partner institutes (non seasonally adjusted), are available in an archive database.

The former NACE Rev.1.1 business survey series (up to April 2010) continue to be available in an archive database.

With effect from May 2011, a number of partner institutes in the Joint Harmonised EU Programme of Business and Consumer Surveys have changed: Denmark: Services, Retail trade; Spain: Consumers, Services, Retail trade; Portugal: Building. These changes may cause a break in the series and impact to some extent also on the ESI figures in the above mentioned countries.

All files are in WinZip format (size ranges from 100kb to 10Mb)

Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI)Seasonally
Adjusted Data
(total sector)
EU member statesESI NACE rev.2
Candidate countriesESI NACE rev.2

Industry / Business Climate Indicator (BCI)Seasonally
Adjusted Data
(total sector)		Non-Seasonally
Adjusted Data
(total sector)		Seasonally
Adjusted Data
(MIG)
EU member statesIndustry/BCI NACE rev.2 saIndustry/BCI NACE rev.2 nsaIndustry/MIG NACE rev.2 sa
Candidate countriesIndustry/BCI NACE rev.2 saIndustry/BCI NACE rev.2 nsaIndustry/MIG NACE rev.2 sa

Services sectorSeasonally
Adjusted Data
(total sector)		Non-Seasonally
Adjusted Data
(total sector)
EU member statesServices NACE rev.2 saServices NACE rev.2 nsa
Candidate countriesServices NACE rev.2 saServices NACE rev.2 nsa

ConsumersSeasonally
Adjusted Data
(total sector)		Non-Seasonally
Adjusted Data
(total sector)		Subsectors
(s.a. data)		Inflation
perceptions
(n.s.a. data)
EU member statesConsumers saConsumers nsaConsumers subsectorsConsumers inflation
Candidate countriesConsumers saConsumers nsaConsumers subsectorsConsumers inflation

Retail tradeSeasonally
Adjusted Data
(total sector)		Non-Seasonally
Adjusted Data
(total sector)
EU member statesRetail NACE rev.2 saRetail NACE rev.2 nsa
Candidate countriesRetail NACE rev.2 saRetail NACE rev.2 nsa

ConstructionSeasonally
Adjusted Data
(total sector)		Non-Seasonally
Adjusted Data
(total sector)
EU member statesConstruction NACE rev.2 saConstruction NACE rev.2 nsa
Candidate countriesConstruction NACE rev.2 saConstruction NACE rev.2 nsa

All surveysSeasonally
Adjusted Data		Non-Seasonally
Adjusted Data
EU member states and candidate countriesall surveys NACE rev.2 saall surveys NACE rev.2 nsa

Financial servicesSeasonally
Adjusted Data
(total sector)		Non-Seasonally
Adjusted Data
(total sector)		Subsectors
(s.a. data)		Subsectors
(n.s.a. data)
EU member states-Financial nsa-Financial subsectors nsa

Investment surveyNon-Seasonally
Adjusted Data
EU member statesInvestment rev.2

Subsector dataArchived time series (original NACE1.1 and original backcast NACE2)


World Economic Survey (WES): quarterly survey published by the IFO Institute in February, May, August and November www.cesifo.de/wes

Country weights: this file contains the country weights for all the surveys referred to in the methodological User Guide.

In case of problems with downloading these long time series, you can contact us.

Last update: 09/02/2012 | Top