Classification of the Functions of Government


Introduction

The Classification of Functions of Government (COFOG) is a comprehensive framework that provides a detailed classification of the functions, or socioeconomic objectives, that governments aim to achieve through various kinds of expenditure. It is one of a family of four classifications of expenditure according to purpose, alongside Classifications of Individual Consumption According to Purpose (COICOP), the Classification of the Purpose of Non-profit Institutions Serving Households (COPNI), and the Classification of the Outlays of Producers According to Purpose (COPP). COFOG was first published in 1980 and revised in 1999. COFOG 1999 was approved by the United Nations Statistical commission at the thirtieth session of the Commission in March 1999.

Despite the landscape of government policy and socio-economic objectives evolving over this period, both nationally and in response to global challenges there has been no revision of the COFOG categorization since. The United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) at its fifty-third session in 2022 recommended the revision of the Classification of the Functions of Government (COFOG) and an assessment of whether changes are required in the other classifications of expenditure according to purpose. (Decision 53/125(i) of E/CN.3/2022/41)

The revision of COFOG will be carried out under the auspices of the United Nations Committee of Experts on International Statistical Classifications (UNCEISC). The Committee has established a task team (TT-COFOG) to revise COFOG following the approval of its terms of reference by the Statistical Commission at its fifty-fifth session. The task team comprises experts on statistical classifications and subject matter experts on government finance statistics, national accounts, environmental accounts and other users or producers of the Classification. The primary objectives of the TT-COFOG are to develop a revised version of the COFOG, including the structure, explanatory notes and correspondences between the revised COFOG and the 1999 version of COFOG. In addition, the task team will provide an assessment on whether changes are required in other classifications according to purpose in the context of the COFOG revision and make a recommendation to UNCEISC. It is anticipated that the update will be completed by 2027.


What is COFOG?

COFOG is a classification of transactions designed to apply to general government and its subsectors. In the current version of the COFOG classification, there are ten divisions in the classification as follows:

01 General public services
02 Defence
03 Public order and safety
04 Economic affairs
05 Environmental protection
06 Housing and community amenities
07 Health
08 Recreation, culture and religion
09 Education
10 Social protection

These divisions are broken down into more details in groups, which again are broken down into classes. At the most detailed level, classes, whether the expenditure are being related to collective services or individual services are indicated.


Initial List of Revision Issue Category

Task Team members, in consultation with their colleagues, submitted proposed issues for consideration in the revision of COFOG. These proposals have been organized into 21 initial revision issue categories, under 2 main groupings:

A. Current COFOG Divisions, Cross-cutting issues, and Other Thematic Issues
A01. General public services
A02. Defence
A03. Public order and safety
A04. Economic affairs
A05. Environmental protection
     (includes alignment with CEP, SEEA and other environmental classifications/frameworks)
A06. Housing and community amenities
A07. Health (includes alignment with SHA)
A09. Education (includes alignment with ISCED)
A10. Social protection
A11. Cross-cutting issues
A12. R&D (includes alignment with NABS)
A13. Digitalization
A14. Gender
A15. Indigenous peoples

B. Structural, Alignment and Other Issues
B1. COFOG structure/classification principles
B2. Primary/secondary purpose
B3. Additional uses of COFOG
B4. Compilation issues
B5. Individual/collective expenditure
B6. Internal consistency with other classifications of expenditure according to purpose:
     COICOP/COPP/COPNI
B7. Alignment with other classifications/frameworks


Global Consultation

A Global Consultation on the Initial List of Issues for the Update of COFOG was conducted from November 2024 - January 2025 with countries, international/regional organizations and broader user communities to collect feedback on the initial list of issues which were identified by the TT-COFOG. The feedback from the global consultation will contribute to the finalization of the list of issues.


Revision Process

The following five Working Groups will be established under the Task Team to advance the initial revision issues as outlined above:

A. Economic and public affairs (A01-A04)
B. Environment (A05, B7)
C. Social and demographic (A06-A10)
D. Cross-cutting issues (A11-A15)
E. Classification principles and cross-classification issues (B1-B6)

Working Groups will be tasked with discussing the related revision issues, and developing proposals/recommendations for consideration and decisions by the wider Task Team.

The revision process of COFOG will be undertaken in coordination with the update process of other macroeconomic standards, including the update of the Government Financial Statistics Manual (GFSM) and the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) Central Framework.



UNSD classifications

International coordination

Meetings and events