1269.0 - Standard Australian Classification of Countries (SACC), 1998 (Revision 2.03)

ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 24/09/1998

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Contents >> Chapter 1. Introduction >> Definition of country

Although most people have an intuitive understanding of what constitutes a country, precise definition of the concept is difficult given the differing levels of sovereignty and independence of many of the world's countries. The term countries appears in the classification title and is used throughout this document to describe the base-level units (that is, the categories at the most detailed level of the classification), even though not all of the units classified are fully independent countries. The base-level units of the classification include:

fully independent countries (sovereign nation states);

administrative subdivisions of the United Kingdom: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. (The United Kingdom is represented at the second (minor group) level of the classification);

external territories and dependencies of independent countries. These units are discrete geographic areas with varying degrees of political and economic autonomy. In general, they are physically isolated from the country to which they are dependent, for example, Falkland Islands, Martinique;

units which are recognised geographic areas, the ownership or control of which is in dispute, for example, Gaza Strip and West Bank; and

residual categories (not elsewhere classified (nec) categories) comprised of geographic areas which are not separately identified in the classification and which are not part of one of the separately identified base-level units. For example, Polynesia (excludes Hawaii), nec, which contains a number of minor islands which are not part of any of the separately identified country units of the Minor Group Polynesia (excludes Hawaii).

A number of supplementary codes are also itemised in the classification document (see Appendix 1). These codes, which are used to represent country-like entities and to process inadequately described responses in statistical collections, are not part of the main classification structure and are therefore not country level units in the classification. These codes are explained more fully below (see Supplementary codes).

In economic statistics, it is often necessary to present within one view of the data, information about countries and information that does not have a country dimension. The SACC therefore includes a number of categories which do not equate to individual countries. These categories include such entities as Reserve Bank Gold and International Institutions. Other categories are also required where country information is applicable but not available. For instance, debt issues in international capital markets are allocated the supplementary code 0718: International Capital Markets. In some cases, residual categories such as Africa, not elsewhere classified, are used in economic statistics to combine, within broad continental groupings, confidential country information, information about insignificant economic relationships, and information that is not sufficiently defined for country attribution but which can be allocated to a continent. All the above residual categories necessary for economic statistics purposes have been assigned unique four-digit codes and are listed in Appendix 1. They are not categories of the main classification structure.

The scope of the SACC is all countries currently existing in the world as defined above. Because the number of countries can easily be accommodated in the main structure without the classification becoming unwieldy, the vast majority of countries are separately identified even though many of them are statistically insignificant in the Australian context. In a small number of instances geographic areas have not been separately identified but have been included in residual (not elsewhere classified) categories. Most of these entities have no permanent civilian population and are not significant in terms of social or economic statistics. This comprehensive coverage makes the classification useful for a wide range of applications and increases its longevity.