Codelist

Overview

An SDMX Codelist is a managed list of classification codes.

Structure Type	Standard SDMX Structural Metadata Artefact
Maintainable	Yes
Identifiable	Yes
Item Scheme	Yes
SDMX Information Model Versions	1.0, 2.0, 2.1
Concept ID	CODELIST

SDMX Information Model

Usage

SDMX Codelists are lists of classification codes principally used for defining the set of allowed values for enumerated components in Data Structure Definitions or Metadata Structure Definitions.
Each code is treated as a separated Item so must have an ID and a Name, but can also have an optional Description. While Code IDs are unique within a Codelist, the same Code ID may be safely used in other Codelists. For instance: The code 'A' may be used in a Frequency Codelist to represent 'Annual', but also appear in an Industry Codelist to represent 'Agriculture'.

Conventions

CL_ Codelist ID Prefix

Codelist IDs are given a 'CL_' prefix to distinguish them from other structures. For instance: CL_FREQ, CL_REF_AREA, CL_AGE.

Code ID Conventions

Codes can take any legal SDMX ID. But there are several conventions in use:
_Z Unknown or undefined
TOTAL Total or sum of the dimension. For a 'country' dimension, series with TOTAL would indicate the sum of observation values for all countries included in the dataset.

Examples

A Simple Frequency Codelist: CL_FREQ

Code ID	Code Name
A	Annual
S	Half-yearly, semester
Q	Quarterly
M	Monthly
W	Weekly
D	Daily
B	Daily - Business Week
N	Minutely

A Larger Age Codelist: CL_AGE

Code ID	Code Name
Y_LT15	under 15 years
Y_LT5	under 5 years
Y_LT1	under 1 year
Y1	1 year
Y2	2 years
Y3	3 years
Y4	4 years
Y5-9	5 to 9 years
Y5	5 years
Y6	6 years
Y7	7 years
Y8	8 years
Y9	9 years
Y10-14	10 to 14 years
Y10	10 years
Y11	11 years
Y12	12 years
Y13	13 years
Y14	14 years
Y15-29	15 to 29 years
Y15-19	15 to 19 years
Y15	15 years
Y16	16 years
Y17	17 years
Y18	18 years
Y19	19 years
Y20-24	20 to 24 years