The Singapore Department of Statistics is responsible for developing national statistical standards and promoting the adoption of these standards. Since 1958, classifications of economic activities have been standardised and published as the Singapore Standard Industrial Classification. The SSIC is used for statistical surveys and censuses of population, households and establishments and, increasingly, in administrative databases. The adoption of a common framework for classification benefits both producers and users of data. Data-sharing is facilitated among producers while consistent and comparable data are available for analysis by users.

The SSIC 2005 adopts the basic framework and principles of the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC), Fourth Revision. It is updated regularly to reflect significant changes in the structure of the Singapore economy and the emergence of new activities.

This ninth edition of the SSIC supersedes its previous editions. There are altogether 1,089 5-digit items at the most detailed level of the SSIC 2005, compared with 1,072 codes in the 2000 edition. The number of broad sections has also increased from 18 in SSIC 2000 to 22 in SSIC 2005.

More detailed classification at 4- and 5-digit levels is available in the publication, Singapore Standard Industrial Classification 2005. Hardcopy of the publication is available for sale at S$7.75 (excluding postage).