18 August 2026 · 5 min read
What is ANZSIC? A plain guide to Australia's industry classification
ANZSIC is the standard used to classify businesses by industry in Australia and New Zealand. What it is, who maintains it, its four levels, and why the ABR doesn't publish it.
ANZSIC— the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification — is the standard for grouping businesses by what they actually do. It's how a plumber, a café and a software firm get sorted into comparable industry buckets, so activity can be measured, compared and segmented consistently.
Who maintains it
ANZSIC is maintained jointly by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and Stats NZ. The current edition is ANZSIC 2006, which is what “an ANZSIC code” almost always refers to today. It underpins official statistics on both sides of the Tasman.
The four levels
ANZSIC is a hierarchy that gets more specific as you go down. From broadest to narrowest:
- Division — the broadest grouping, a single letter A–S (19 in total). E is Construction.
- Subdivision — a 2-digit code within a division.
- Group — a 3-digit code.
- Class — the most detailed level, a 4-digit code. 3231 is Plumbing Services.
So a single plumbing business sits in Class 3231, inside Division E — Construction. For how to read a code end to end, see ANZSIC codes explained.
Why it matters
An industry classification lets you do things a name alone can't: segment a customer book by sector, benchmark against an industry, size a market, or flag when a stated line of business doesn't match reality. It's the difference between “a list of businesses” and “businesses you can analyse.”
The catch: the ABR doesn't publish it
The Australian Business Register records identity, status, GST and location — but not an industry. So you can't simply look up a business's ANZSIC code the way you look up its ABN. ABR Insights fills that gap by labelling each business with an ANZSIC division and class and a confidence score, always marked as a prediction rather than official data.
Next: how to find a business's ANZSIC code, or start by looking up an ABN.
Frequently asked
- What does ANZSIC stand for?
- Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification — the standard for grouping businesses by their main economic activity.
- Who maintains ANZSIC?
- It's maintained jointly by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and Stats NZ. The current edition is ANZSIC 2006.
- Is a business's ANZSIC code on the ABN register?
- No. The Australian Business Register doesn't record an industry code for a business, which is why ABR Insights labels one with a confidence score.
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