How do you quote a code in a table?

Quoting a code in a table for ISIC Rev. 5, UN Statistics Division, means giving the reader enough context to reproduce the meaning: the code, the category title, the section letter where helpful, and the version label. A table that lists bare digits with no titles and no version note forces the reader to guess, and guessing is where cross-revision errors start. A well quoted table can be checked against the UNSD structure without asking its author what was meant.

What does a reader need beside the digits?

Digits alone say nothing about scope. A reader who meets a bare code in a table must either look it up, which interrupts the reading and invites a wrong lookup under the wrong revision, or guess from the surrounding rows, which is worse. Give the reader the category title in the same row, so the meaning is visible at a glance, and add the section letter where it helps orient a reader who is scanning a long table. The version label belongs in the table title, in a table note, or in a column, but it must be somewhere the reader cannot miss it: ISIC Rev. 5, UN Statistics Division, stated once and placed prominently, beats a label buried in a methods annex that few readers open. If the table mixes levels, for example division totals alongside class figures, say so, because a reader who assumes a uniform level will misread the relative sizes of the rows. The goal is a table that a stranger can check against the UNSD structure without contacting the author, and every missing piece of context is a question the author has outsourced to that stranger.

How should titles, levels, and periods be shown together?

Put the title and the level in the row, the version in the table note, and the reference period in the column heading or title, so each fact has a predictable place. A consistent layout matters: when every table follows the same pattern, readers learn where to look. For a table that spans a revision change, add a break marker in the row or column where the break falls, and explain it in the note, rather than smoothing over the change with a continuous series. Numbers also need their unit and their basis stated: a count, a share, or a value, and the population it covers. A code quoted without its unit is precise looking but unusable, because the reader cannot tell what was counted under that code.

What goes wrong when a table quotes codes badly?

Three failures recur. First, bare digits with no version label get read under the wrong revision, often Rev. 4, and the error propagates into every downstream quotation. Second, titles copied loosely drift away from the official wording, so a reader who checks the UNSD structure finds a title that does not match and cannot tell whether the code or the title is wrong. Third, mixed levels presented without labels make a broad total look comparable with a detailed figure, and a chart built from such a table exaggerates or understates the detailed category. All three failures share one cause: the author knew what was meant and assumed the reader would too. Writing the table for a reader who knows nothing beyond the table itself is the cure, and it costs only a few extra columns and one clear note.

A checklist for the table before it leaves your desk

Check	Ask yourself	If the answer is no
Title present	Can a reader understand the row without looking anything up?	Add the official category title beside the code
Version visible	Does the table state ISIC Rev. 5, UN Statistics Division?	Add it to the title or the table note
Level clear	Is it obvious whether each row is a section, division, group, or class?	Label the level or group rows by level
Period stated	Does the reader know which years the figures cover?	Put the reference period in the heading
Breaks marked	Does any row span a revision change?	Mark the break and explain it in the note

Run through the five checks in order, and do not publish a table that fails the first two: a code without its title and its version cannot be checked, however accurate the figures beside it may be.

A table built this way respects its readers. It hands them the code, the title, the level, the period, and the version in one place, and it lets them verify every row against the UNSD structure for themselves.

This guide deals only with how statistical categories are presented in tables, and it does not decide anything about an individual reader. It assigns no code, no principal activity, and no registration to anyone, and a code for a particular record should be confirmed with the national statistical institute or business register that holds the record.