The Census of Industrial Production comprises two separate but closely related annual inquiries, namely:
(i) The Census of Industrial Enterprises covers those enterprises which are wholly or primarily engaged in industrial;
(ii) The Census of Industrial Local Units which covers all industrial local.
The Census of Industrial Production is required under Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament concerning business statistics and Statistics (Structural Business Inquiries) Order 2026 (S.I. No. 133 of 2026).
NACE refers to the classification NACE Revision 2 which is the European Union’s Statistical Classification of Economic Activity in the European communities
Visit the CSO website for futher information on the NACE Rev. 2 classification of industrial activity.
An enterprise is defined as the smallest combination of legal units that is an organisational unit producing goods or services, which benefits from a certain degree of autonomy in decision making, especially for the allocation of its current resources. A local unit is defined as an enterprise or part thereof situated in a geographically identified place.
Appreciation is extended to firms that co-operate in this annual Census. The information they provide is treated as strictly confidential to the Central Statistics Office. Direct or indirect disclosure of information relating to individual respondents is avoided in the publication of results by applying confidentiality checks to categories containing small numbers of units and suppressing figures, etc.
All tables are available on PxStat on the Central Statistics Office website, please see:
Enterprises Manufacturing data
Although the Census relates in principle to the calendar year, respondents are permitted to return figures for their nearest accounting year. The end of the accounting year for all returns used falls between May of the reference year and April of the following year. Returns which cover a period of less than 12 months are accepted in cases where businesses have started or ceased trading during the year.
The Census is conducted by post and via e-forms. A permanent up-to-date register is kept of all relevant local units and enterprises known to be involved in Industrial Production. The register is maintained from the Central Business Register, administrative and public utility records, announcements in the press, business journals, field personnel contacts, etc. This register is constantly being updated. This results in differing estimates for the total number of enterprises/local units through the dissemination cycle.
An ‘enterprise’ questionnaire is sent to all enterprises whose activity is primarily industrial. The type of ‘enterprise’ questionnaire depends on the size of the enterprise. The most detailed form (form F) is generally sent to all enterprises with twenty or more persons engaged. A less detailed form (form C) is sent to enterprises with between three and twenty persons engaged. Enterprises with less than 3 persons engaged do not receive a survey form, but administrative data is used to estimate for such enterprises. In the case of multi-location enterprises, a ‘local unit’ questionnaire is sent to each local unit with three or more persons engaged which was in production during the year. For the majority of local units, this questionnaire is the standard form L. In a small number of exceptional cases, a single form L is issued to cover several local units operated by the same enterprise - see Scope of the Local Unit Census below.
Visit the CSO website to view Survey forms.
All returns are scrutinised clerically for internal accuracy. They are compared with returns for previous years and in some instances with returns to other industrial inquiries. Local unit and enterprise returns relating to the same enterprise are examined together for consistency. A further set of consistency checks is carried out in the computer processing of the data. Substantial queries arising from these scrutiny operations are referred to the respondent by telephone or in writing.
The 2021 results are classified by NACE Revision 2, which was first introduced for reference year 2008. A correlation table showing the relationship between headings of the old and new classifications is available on request. Each 4 digit class in NACE Revision 2 relates to a specific form of economic activity, e.g. manufacture of basic pharmaceuticals products (NACE 2110). The statistical units in the Census (local unit and enterprise) are coded to the NACE class relating to their principal industrial activity during the Census year. In the case of local units, this is determined on the basis of detailed information provided on their production of individual products. The activity classification of enterprises is based on the NACE codes of the constituent local units. An enterprise that operates several industrial local units coded to different NACE classes is classified to the activity which accounts for the highest proportion of the total value added of the enterprise.
The scope of the Census extends to NACE sections B, C, D and E, namely:
Section B: Mining and quarrying
Section C: Manufacturing
Section D: Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply
Section E: Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities
The traditional category Transportable Goods Industries used in industrial statistics is equivalent to NACE sections B and C. The Manufacturing Industries grouping includes only section C.
The classification is determined by the nationality of the owners of 50 per cent or more of the share capital. The breakdown which can be provided at sectoral level is in many cases constrained by the need to preserve the confidentiality of data provided by individual units. For total manufacturing industry, however, a more detailed nationality classification is possible.
The enterprise Census covers all enterprises which are wholly or principally involved in industrial production (i.e. NACE Sections B to E).
An enterprise is defined as the smallest combination of legal units that is an organisational unit producing goods or services, which benefits from a certain degree of autonomy in decision making, especially for the allocation of its current resources (e.g. company, partnership, individual proprietorship, etc.). An enterprise may be a sole legal unit. In practice, the enterprise is equivalent to a company or firm. Within a group of companies, each individual company is treated as a separate enterprise. The return for each enterprise relates to all of its activities and covers all local units operated by it, including those involved in non-industrial activity, e.g. wholesaling or retailing.
If information for key non-respondents is available from an alternative source, for example, Monthly Production, Quarterly Statistics or Prodcom or a return for the previous year, then the record is manually estimated; otherwise administrative data is used in conjunction with ratio extensions. The administrative data sources used relate to Corporation Tax (CT) records and/or Income Tax (IT) Form 11 data. Ratio extension involves the application of ratios between known variables to cases where only one subcomponent is known. The ratios are typically calculated at NACE class level before being applied, although some merging of NACE classes may take place in order to ensure that the ratio estimates are not based on very small populations.
Full data for enterprises filling in the more restricted C forms is derived using the ratio extension method also. All non-key non-respondents are estimated for using administrative data and ratio extensions.