We source data for our Europe Spotlight Reports and Europe Factsheets from Eurostat, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Industrial Statistics Database (NDSTAT), the United Nations Comtrade database, the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD).

Industry reports for European countries are sourced from the following national statistics offices:

Analysts use official concordances from the national statistics offices above to the Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Union (NACE), and country-specific taxonomies such as the UK Standard Industrial Classification of Economic Activities (UK SIC) and national variations of NACE (e.g., NACE-WZ in Germany), to effectively research and analyze specific industries classified under the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC).

Our data scientists and data engineers extract and collate raw source data from various national statistics offices, among other sources, before loading it into our data warehouse. We conduct quality checks and testing to ensure any irregularities in the data are corrected or explained. Each industry's data is then forecast based on global and local macroeconomic, microeconomic, and industry-related data before further testing. Once each country and industry has a complete Key Statistics dataset, the data scientists and analysts will convert all currencies to Euros, account for differences in inflation across geographies and map industry classification systems to ISIC.

ISIC is the international reference classification of productive activities maintained by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). Most countries worldwide use ISIC as their national activity classification or have developed national classifications derived from ISIC. ISIC guides countries in developing national activity classifications and is an essential tool for comparing statistical data on economic activities at the international level.

Our analysts extract and collate raw industry data from the sources above. They then incorporate macroeconomic, microeconomic and industry data into our forecasting model to transform and attribute data and project the industry’s outlook.

Analysts typically take the following steps to decide what variables and conditioning assumptions to use in an industry forecast.

Unlike most European countries which are covered by Country Factsheets, the UK, Ireland and Germany are covered by several other Industry Report collections: UK-SIC, UK Specialised, Ireland SIC, and Germany-WZ

Read our article on UK Data Sourcing, Ireland Methodology and Sources, and Germany Data Sourcing to understand the specific sources used to create UK, Ireland and Germany Core and Specialized Industry Reports.

Industry data for some regions are difficult to estimate and forecast due to unique economic conditions.

Industry trends for Ukraine, Russia and Turkey may be vastly different from the rest of Europe due to the ongoing war and economic instability in Russia and Turkey.

These geopolitical and economic circumstances can complicate data estimation and forecasting, resulting in some data that we can’t validate. In these cases, there will not be a Country Factsheet or available data for that industry.

Ukraine Factsheets are unavailable at this time. We cannot accurately forecast industry data due to the uncertainty and volatility caused by the Russia-Ukraine war. We intend to resume coverage of Ukraine industries when the political situation returns to normal.

Most of the performance data for Ukraine will still be available in Europe Spotlight Reports for benchmarking and country comparison, with the exception of data forecasts. We will add Factsheets for the relevant industries in Ukraine when the situation has normalised and we are confident in the production of data for the country.

Russia Factsheets reflect unique economic circumstances in the country, including high inflation (notably higher than the rest of Europe), economic sanctions, swinging commodity prices and currency volatility. Because of this, fewer Russian industries are covered.

All Turkey Factsheets reflect the country's high inflation and devaluation of its national currency, the Lira.

Turkey currently has the highest inflation in Europe. Inflation ranged from 9% to 85% in 2020. In the same time frame, the value of the Lira depreciated by roughly 450% (around an annualised 40%). As we convert the figures for Turkey Factsheets to Euros, there are substantial declines across all industries. This data also often influences trends in Europe Spotlight Reports.

For additional questions regarding IBISWorld’s sourcing and methodology for the Europe Collection, please contact your Client Relationship Manager. If you don’t have an IBISWorld account, contact us to learn more about our membership options.