Definition: Classification of individual consumption by purpose

National accounts

The Classification of individual consumption by purpose (COICOP) is used to classify both individual consumption expenditure and actual individual consumption.

COICOP is part of a set of classifications of the functions of expenditure, also known as "functional" classifications and which have formed part of the System of National Accounts (SNA) since 1968.

"Functional" classifications are designed to classify certain transactions of producers and of three institutional sectors, namely household, general government and non-profit institutions serving households. They are described as "functional" classifications because they identify the "functions" - in the sense of "purposes" or "objectives" - for which these groups of transactors engage in certain transactions. 

The classifications concerned are: 
- Classification of individual consumption by purpose (COICOP), 
- Classification of the functions of government (COFOG), 
- Classification of the purposes of non-profit institutions serving households (COPNI) and, 
- Classification of outlays of producers by purpose (COPP).