53 Examples of Industries

John Spacey, updated on December 20, 2023

An industry is a category of economic activity. These are typically defined by the type of goods they produce. This can be contrasted with economic sectors that can be defined by levels of value creation. Industries often require specialized knowledge, systems and tools. As such, it is common for products, services, education and professional qualifications to be specialized for a particular industry. The following are common examples of industries.

Administrative Services	Advertising
Aerospace	Agriculture
Airlines	Amusement & Recreation
Banking	Business Services
Chemicals	Construction
Consumer Discretionary	Consumer Services
Consumer Staples	Creative Industries (e.g. Music)
Cultural Industries	Education
Energy	Entertainment
Environment	Fashion
Fishing	Food Manufacturing
Forestry	Healthcare
Heavy Industry	Hotels
Industrial Manufacturing	Information Technology
Infrastructure	Insurance
Life Sciences	Logistics
Marketing Services	Materials
Media	Mining
Professional Services	Publishing
Real Estate	Restaurants
Retail	Science & Technology
Social Services	Space
Sports & Leisure	Telecom
Textiles	Tourism
Transportation	Utilities
Waste Management	Water
Wholesale

Financial Industry

Businesses and institutions that provide services for managing, investing and transferring financial resources.

Hospitality & Tourism

Businesses that host guests including major industries such as hotels, restaurants and airlines.

Technology

Technology industries including both information technology such as cloud platforms and physical technologies such as scientific instruments.

Entertainment Industries

Industries that produce products and services that are entertaining, compelling or engaging.

Media

Businesses and individual creators who produce value using communication mediums such as a book or video sharing platform.

Cultural Industries

Businesses that deliver cultural or creative products, services and experiences.

Retail

Businesses that sell to the end-customer including ecommerce and physical shops.

Healthcare Industries

The public agencies, institutions and firms that provide healthcare services. What is provided by public agencies differs by nation.

Heavy Industries

Industries that construct or produce things that are literally heavy such as bridges or industrial equipment.

Primary Industries

The production or extraction of resources such as minerals, metals, energy, food and water.

Notes

As you can see from the lists above, there is much overlap between industry classifications. For example, restaurants can be viewed as a hospitality, food and cultural industry.

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