Human Activities: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary and Quaternary
Domain 3: Human Activities - Primary, Secondary, Tertiary and Quaternary
This domain classifies economic activity by what is done to natural resources and by the kind of service provided. Questions often ask you to place an occupation in the correct sector and to explain location or linkage.
Core rules
- Primary: direct extraction from nature - farming, fishing, forestry, mining, grazing. Output is mostly raw material.
- Secondary: processing and manufacturing - flour milling, cotton spinning, steel making, power generation. Value is added by changing form.
- Tertiary: services - transport, trade, banking, education, health, tourism. No new physical good is produced.
- Quaternary: knowledge-based work - research, data analysis, software, consultancy, administration. Sometimes called the knowledge sector.
- Location: weight-losing industries such as iron and steel locate near raw materials; weight-gaining industries such as bottling locate near markets. Footloose industries are less tied to raw materials and can locate near transport or labour.
Worked example
A farmer sells milk to a dairy that pasteurizes and packs it; a shop then sells the packets. The farmer is primary because milk is drawn from animals. Pasteurizing and packing are secondary because the milk is processed and packaged. The shop is tertiary because it provides a retail service. If a laboratory develops a longer shelf-life formula, that research is quaternary.
Traps
Do not call mining secondary just because it is an industry. Do not classify transport of goods as secondary; it is a tertiary service. Do not put software development in secondary merely because it uses computers. Do not assume all primary work is rural: mining can be near towns.