Sectors of the Economy: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary and Quinary (2023)

ClearIAS » Economics Notes » Sectors of the Economy: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary and Quinary

Last updated on by Alex Andrews George

Sectors of the Economy: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary and Quinary (1)What are the sectors of the economy?

Human activities which generate income areknown as economic activities. Economicactivities are broadly grouped into primary,secondary, tertiary activities. Higher services under tertiary activities are again classified into quaternary and quinary activities.

Let us first understand the differences between the different sectors of the economy, so that it will be easier for us to understand the factors responsible for the location of primary, secondary, and tertiary sector industries in various parts of the world (including India).

Table of Contents

Primary activities

Sectors of the Economy: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary and Quinary (2)

Primary activities are directly dependent on the environment as these refer to utilisation of earth’s resources such as land, water, vegetation, building materials and minerals. It, thus includes hunting and gathering, pastoral activities, fishing, forestry, agriculture, and mining and quarrying.

People engaged in primary activities are called red-collarworkers due to the outdoor nature of their work.

Secondaryactivities

Sectors of the Economy: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary and Quinary (3)

Sectors of the Economy: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary and Quinary (4)

Secondary activities add value to naturalresources by transforming raw materials intovaluable products.Secondary activities, therefore, areconcerned with manufacturing, processing andconstruction (infrastructure) industries.

People engaged in secondary activities are called blue-collar workers.

Tertiaryactivities

Sectors of the Economy: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary and Quinary (5)

Tertiary activities include both production and exchange. The production involves the ‘provision’ of services that are ‘consumed. Exchange involves trade, transport and communication facilities that are used to overcome distance.

Tertiary jobs = White-collar jobs.

Quaternaryactivities

Sectors of the Economy: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary and Quinary (6)

Quaternary activities are specialized tertiary activities in the ‘Knowledge Sector’ which demands a separate classification. There has been a very high growth in demand for and consumption of information-based services from mutual fund managers to tax consultants, software developers and statisticians. Personnel working in office buildings, elementary schools and university classrooms, hospitals and doctors’ offices, theatres, accounting and brokerage firms all belong to this category of services. Like some of the tertiary functions, quaternary activities can also be outsourced. They are not tied to resources, affected by the environment, or necessarily localised by market.

Quinaryactivities

Sectors of the Economy: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary and Quinary (7)

Quinary activities are services that focus on the creation, re-arrangement and interpretation of new and existing ideas; data interpretation and the use and evaluation of new technologies. Often referred to as ‘gold collar’ professions, they represent another subdivision of the tertiary sector representing special and highly paid skills of senior business executives, government officials, research scientists, financial and legal consultants, etc. Their importance in the structure of advanced economies far outweighs their numbers. The highest level of decision-makers or policymakers performs quinary activities.

Quinary = Gold collar professions.

Sectors of the Economy: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary and Quinary (10)

About Alex Andrews George

Alex Andrews George is a mentor, author, and social entrepreneur. Alex is the founder of ClearIAS and one of the expert Civil Service Exam Trainers in India.

He is the author of many best-seller books like 'Important Judgments that transformed India' and 'Important Acts that transformed India'.

A trusted mentor and pioneer in online training, Alex's guidance, strategies, study-materials, and mock-exams have helped many aspirants to become IAS, IPS, and IFS officers.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sectors of the Economy: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary and Quinary (19)karthikaa says

    what are the disadvantages of the Sectors of Economy : Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary and Quinary

    Reply

    • Sectors of the Economy: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary and Quinary (26)Taranjeet kaur says

      Being a housewife is not a work , its a responsiblity.
      These sectors deals with money and a work of housewife is beyond that and therefore not related to any of these sectors.

      (Video) 5 Economic Sectors - Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary, & Quinary
    • Sectors of the Economy: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary and Quinary (27)Nikihil Bisen says

      This classification of jobs is based under the hood of economical hierarchy, here demand, supply, goods, service, etc are parameters, this are all non-domestic phenomena and housewife comes under domestic category hence we can not address housewife in any sector.

    • Sectors of the Economy: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary and Quinary (28)Jhankar says

      Housewives cannot be considered into any sector acc to me , because they do not generate income of their work.

  2. Sectors of the Economy: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary and Quinary (41)Shubham Uday Mishra says

    Sir plzzz keep updating the other notes viz history economy polity environment etc. Thank you sir

    Reply

  3. Sectors of the Economy: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary and Quinary (42)Rachel says

    It says: “Personnel working in … hospitals and doctors’ offices … belong to this category of services” under “Quaternary Activities”.

    Reply

  4. Sectors of the Economy: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary and Quinary (45)Yash Godara says

    The definition of quinary activities is word to word exactly same as in the geography book of NCERT class 12th. What will you guys say about that? Did you steal the definition given by NCERT or did the NCERT publications steal your definition, because its word to word exactly same.

    Reply

    • Sectors of the Economy: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary and Quinary (46)ClearIAS.com says

      @ Yash – Articles in ClearIAS are created after referring multiple books and websites – that includes NCERTs. But our reference is not just limited to NCERTs. Also, the scope of changing standard definitions is very limited.

  5. Sectors of the Economy: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary and Quinary (48)Jaeson ng says

    (Video) Sectors of Economy: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary, and Quinary

    1 is Hollywood an quinary industry
    Or quaternary industry?

    2. What is the thesaurus answer in economic terminology that equates to “Hollywood”? The most appropriate one that is 🙂 eg Media-cultural industry= Hollywood industry?

    3. How can I incl this Sectors of Economy in my report as biblio? Any author name , date, publisher etc?

    Thank you!

    Reply

  6. Sectors of the Economy: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary and Quinary (49)Pravin Garje says

    Question papers are very cheap. Not relevant to UPSC. I brought the India year book, budget, and economic survey test. I don’t recommand it.

    Reply

  7. Sectors of the Economy: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary and Quinary (51)Aishwarya says

    The activity which generates revenue is an economic activity, if the activity involves human interaction with the elements of the environment (animal or plant), it falls under the category of primary activity.

    Secondary activity, on the other hand, adds value to the natural resources by turning raw materials into material goods.
    Metalworking and smelting, automobile production, textile production, chemical and engineering industries, aerospace manufacturing, energy utilities, engineering, breweries and bottlers, construction, and shipbuilding are some the examples of secondary activities. Read this article to understand this chapter in a simple way- https://schoolsonweb.com/cbse-secondary-human-activities/

    Reply

  8. Sectors of the Economy: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary and Quinary (54)college courses in the Philippines says

    This is incredible! Thank you for taking the time to teach us something new. I’m excited to read more of your work.

    Reply

  9. Sectors of the Economy: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary and Quinary (55)Aditya says

    I think there is a mistake with Red collar workers being the ones engaged in primary activities
    According to Wikipedia Red collar workers refers to government workers of any kind
    –> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Designation_of_workers_by_collar_color

    Reply

  10. Sectors of the Economy: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary and Quinary (56)Sakshi says

    Primary activity jobs are called red collar

    Reply

    (Video) Sectors of Economy - Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary, Quinary

Leave a Reply

FAQs

Sectors of the Economy: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary and Quinary? ›

The primary and secondary sectors are responsible for securing and processing raw materials into material goods. The tertiary sector includes the service-based industries, and the quaternary and quinary sectors are extensions of the tertiary sector.

What are primary secondary tertiary quaternary and quinary economic sectors? ›

Human activities which generate income are known as economic activities. Economic activities are broadly grouped into primary, secondary, tertiary activities. Higher services under tertiary activities are again classified into quaternary and quinary activities.

What are the 4 major sectors of the economy? ›

The 4 different sectors of the economy are primary sector, secondary sector, tertiary sector and quaternary sector.

What are primary secondary tertiary quaternary quinary industries examples? ›

Primary industry involves getting raw materials e.g. mining, farming and fishing. Secondary industry involves manufacturing e.g. making cars and steel. Tertiary industries provide a service e.g. teaching and nursing. Quaternary industry involves research and development industries e.g. IT.

What are the 5 levels of industry? ›

  • Primary industry.
  • Secondary industry.
  • Tertiary industry.
  • Quaternary industry.

What are 5 examples of quaternary sector? ›

Examples of quaternary industry or sector:

Financial planning, information generation, consultancy, information technologies, designing, and research and development are some industries in the quaternary sector.

What sectors of economy are quinary? ›

The quinary sector includes businesses and not-for-profit organizations that focus on providing essential services such as public services, education, and healthcare. Public services include non-profit government supported agencies such as police forces, military, and firefighters.

What is the explanation of 4 sector economy? ›

The four sector economy consists of the household sector, business sector or firms, government sector, and foreign sector or rest of the world. It is also known as the open economy. This model is formed by adding the foreign sector to the three-sector model.

What are the four 4 basic economic activities? ›

The four essential economic activities are resource management, the production of goods and services, the distribution of goods and services, and the consumption of goods and services. As you work through this book, you will learn in detail about how economists analyze each of these areas of activity.

What are 4 examples of tertiary industries? ›

The tertiary industry is the services sector of an economy, encompassing medical providers, educators, financial services, haircuts, and personal trainers, among many others.

What is quaternary and quinary examples? ›

The quaternary sector means fourth, and focuses on the processing and transfer of information as knowledge. Quinary simply means fifth. It consists of services once performed in the home, or domestic services. Chefs, daycare providers, and cleaning services are types of quinary businesses.

What are 3 examples of quaternary jobs? ›

Examples of quaternary industry include computing, consultancy, project management, education and research and development.

What is industry 4 vs industry 5? ›

Like other predecessors, Industry 4.0 is technology-driven. Industry 5.0 is, however, value-driven. The former needs the latter to remind the essential societal needs, value and responsibility as ultimate goals; the latter requires the former for the technological pushes and solutions.

What are the 4 core industrial areas? ›

Today there are four PRIMARY industrial regions: 1) EASTERN NORTH America (the strongest), 2) WESTERN & CENTRAL Europe, 3) RUSSIA & UKRAINE (former USSR), and 4) EASTERN ASIA (where Japan's dominance is being challenged by China and the “Four Tigers”).

What are 5 economic activities? ›

Primary economic activities include agricultural activities (both commercial and subsistence), forestry, mining, grazing, quarrying, fishing, hunting as well as gathering. Processing raw materials and their packaging are also included in this sector.

What is an example of a primary sector? ›

The primary sector includes all those activities the end purpose of which consists in exploiting natural resources: agriculture, fishing, forestry, mining, deposits.

What is a primary industry? ›

Primary industries are those that harvest or extract raw material from nature, such as agriculture, oil and gas extraction, logging and forestry, mining, fishing, and trapping.

Which industry is considered quaternary? ›

Quaternary sector: Involves knowledge-based activities such as information technology, research, and development, as well as consulting services and education.

What is an example of a secondary sector? ›

Examples include textile production, car manufacturing, and handicraft. Manufacturing is an important activity in promoting economic growth and development.

What comes after Quinary? ›

The sequence continues with quaternary, quinary, senary, septenary, octonary, nonary & denary.

What is a tertiary activity? ›

Tertiary sector activity includes retail sales, commercial transportation, healthcare, and real estate. The primary sector (natural resource collection) and secondary sector (manufacturing) feed into, and enable, the tertiary sector. The tertiary sector is the final sector of the three-sector economic model.

What is an example of a tertiary sector? ›

The tertiary sector covers a wide range of activities from commerce to administration, transport, financial and real estate activities, business and personal services, education, health and social work.

What is the secondary sector of an economy? ›

The secondary sector covers all those activities consisting in varying degrees of processing of raw materials (manufacturing, construction industries).

What are the 4 types of economy quizlet? ›

Match
  • 4 types of Economic Systems. Traditional, command, market, and mixed.
  • Traditional Economic System. ...
  • Traditional Economic System Advantages. ...
  • Traditional Economic System Disadvantages. ...
  • Command Economic System. ...
  • Command Economic System Advantages. ...
  • Market Economic System. ...
  • USA (United States of America)

What is 4 sector economy circular flow? ›

The circular flow means the unending flow of production of goods and services, income, and expenditure in an economy. It shows the redistribution of income in a circular manner between the production unit and households. These are land, labour, capital, and entrepreneurship.

What is the 4 sector Keynesian model? ›

The four-sector Keynesian model is the complete Keynesian model, containing all four macroeconomic sectors--household, business, government, and foreign. It adds the foreign sector to the three domestic sectors, thus including the role of foreign trade, or net exports, in the analysis of equilibrium.

What are the 3 main sectors of the economy? ›

The 3 main sectors of the economy are primary, secondary and tertiary sectors. Manufacturing comes under the secondary sector, extraction of raw materials industries comes under the primary sector of the economy and the services industry comes in the tertiary sector of the economy.

What are the 4 factors of production? ›

Full Transcript. The factors of production are resources that are the building blocks of the economy; they are what people use to produce goods and services. Economists divide the factors of production into four categories: land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship.

What is the difference between tertiary quaternary and quinary? ›

In tertiary sectors, we have services for business and consumers and wholesale trade. In quaternary sectors, we have skills for processing information (as in IT services) as well as e-commerce. And in quinary sectors , we have domestic services once done by people in their home, like daycare, elder care, etc.

What is the difference between quinary and quaternary? ›

Quinary activities are different from Quaternary activities in the following manner: Quinary sector represents the highest category of decision makers who formulate policy guidelines whereas Quaternary is part of tertiary sector of the economy which is knowledge based.

What are quaternary examples of business? ›

Quaternary. The quaternary sector consists of those industries providing information services, such as computing, ICT (information and communication technologies), consultancy (offering advice to businesses) and R&D (research, particularly in scientific fields).

What is primary economic activity? ›

Primary Economic Activities: These economic activities are directly tied to the extraction resources of the earth. Such economic activities occur at the beginning of the production cycle where people live in close contact with the resources of the land.

What is Industry 5.0 examples? ›

Industry 5.0 refers to people working with robots and smart machines. Robots are helping humans work better by leveraging advanced technologies such as the Internet of things.

What is industry 3 vs industry 4? ›

In Industry 3.0, we automate processes using logic processors and information technology. These processes often operate largely without human interference, but there is still a human aspect behind it. Where Industry 4.0 comes in is with the availability and use of vast quantities of data on the production floor.

What is Industry 5.0 in simple words? ›

Conclusion. Industry 5.0 refers to robot and smart machines working alongside people with added resilience and sustainability goals included. Where Industry 4.0 focused on technologies such as the Internet of Things and big data, Industry 5.0 seeks to add human, environmental and social aspects back into the equation.

What are the 4 stages of industrial? ›

The four industrial revolutions are coal, gas, electronics and nuclear, and the internet and renewable energy. Beginning from 1765 through the present day, we've seen an amazing evolution.

What are the names of the 3 types of industries? ›

In economics, industries are customarily classified as primary, secondary, and tertiary; secondary industries are further classified as heavy and light.

What are the 3 major industrial regions of the world today? ›

' Western and central Europe, eastern Europe, eastern Asia, and eastern North America are the world's major industrial regions.

What is Big 5 in economics? ›

The EU's big 5 economies – France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK – dominate the EU by dint of their sheer size, accounting for 71% of GDP in 2013. However, they are by no means the top performers in the EU.

What are the big five economics? ›

Traditionally the top five journals in economics are: the American Economic Review, Econometrica, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the Journal of Political Economy, and the Review of Economic Studies.

What are the 6 economic activities? ›

explain circular flow of economic activities.
  • 6.1 PRODUCTION. In the last lesson you have read about scarcity of resources and making choice. ...
  • 6.1.1 Land. Land is a gift of nature. ...
  • 6.1.2 Labour. ...
  • 6.1.3 Capital. ...
  • 6.1.4 Entrepreneurship. ...
  • 6.2 FACTOR INCOMES. ...
  • 6.3 CONSUMPTION. ...
  • 6.4 CAPITAL FORMATION.

What are the 4 quaternary economic activities? ›

The quaternary sector is defined as the industry based on human knowledge which involves technology, information, financial planning, research, and development.

What are quaternary and quinary sectors? ›

The quaternary sector means fourth, and focuses on the processing and transfer of information as knowledge. Quinary simply means fifth. It consists of services once performed in the home, or domestic services. Chefs, daycare providers, and cleaning services are types of quinary businesses.

What are the primary secondary and tertiary sectors of the economy? ›

The three-sector model in economics divides economies into three sectors of activity: extraction of raw materials (primary), manufacturing (secondary), and service industries which exist to facilitate the transport, distribution and sale of goods produced in the secondary sector (tertiary).

What is primary secondary and tertiary sector in economics? ›

The primary sector is where the materials for the secondary sector are gathered.
...
Differences between Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Sector.
Primary SectorSecondary SectorTertiary Sector
It is known as the agricultural and allied sector servicesIt is known as the manufacturing sectorIt is known as the service sector
4 more rows

What is the 4th economic sector? ›

4. Quaternary sector: The quaternary sector includes businesses related to intellectual activities, such as education, government decision-making, information technology, research and development, and entertainment.

What are the secondary economic activities? ›

Secondary economic activities involve the processing of raw materials (primary products). Examples would include turning timber into furniture and turning iron-ore into steel. Any factory can be seen as a system involving inputs (e.g. timber) processes (e.g. cabinet making) and outputs (e.g. tables and chairs).

What is the difference between quaternary and quinary activities? ›

Quinary vs Quaternary Activities

The quinary sector represents the highest level of decision-makers who establish policy guidelines in policymaking. In contrast, the quaternary sector is part of the tertiary sector of the economy, which is knowledge-based.

What are the examples of quinary activities? ›

Answer: Quinary activities involve work related to administration, Confined to research, training and education, highest-level decision making, and policy making.

What is the primary sector? ›

The primary sector includes all those activities the end purpose of which consists in exploiting natural resources: agriculture, fishing, forestry, mining, deposits.

What are examples of tertiary activities? ›

The tertiary sector covers a wide range of activities from commerce to administration, transport, financial and real estate activities, business and personal services, education, health and social work.

What are 5 secondary economic activities? ›

Examples of secondary economic activities are: steel making from a combination of minerals, Milk production from pastoral farming, textile production from cotton farming, furniture production from logging. Manufacturing and processing industries are included in this phase of the production process.

What is a quaternary job? ›

Quaternary industry is the newest sector and focuses on knowledge-based industries or high-tech industries such as ICT (information and communication technologies) and research and development.

What is the tertiary economy? ›

The tertiary sector is the sector of the economy that concerns services. It is distinct from the secondary sector (manufacturing) and the primary sector (which concerns extraction such as mining, agriculture and fishing).

Videos

1. The Sectors of the Economy
(Quickonomics)
2. Economic Sectors & Weber's Least Cost Model [AP Human Geography Unit 7 Topic 2] (7.2)
(Mr. Sinn)
3. Economic sectors : primary, secondary, tertiary and Quinary sectors| Brains theory
(World Official Times (WOT))
4. 5 Economic Sectors & Weber's Least Cost Theory [AP Human Geography Unit 7 Topic 2]
(Mr. Sinn)
5. Tertiary , quaternary and quinary economic activities@bridgeeducation4771
(Bridge education)
6. Jobs and their classification: Primary, Secondary & Tertiary sector | Educational Videos for Kids
(Happy Learning English)
Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Gregorio Kreiger

Last Updated: 25/05/2023

Views: 6336

Rating: 4.7 / 5 (77 voted)

Reviews: 92% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Gregorio Kreiger

Birthday: 1994-12-18

Address: 89212 Tracey Ramp, Sunside, MT 08453-0951

Phone: +9014805370218

Job: Customer Designer

Hobby: Mountain biking, Orienteering, Hiking, Sewing, Backpacking, Mushroom hunting, Backpacking

Introduction: My name is Gregorio Kreiger, I am a tender, brainy, enthusiastic, combative, agreeable, gentle, gentle person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.