Rural/Urban Local Authority (LA) Classification

The LA Classification was introduced in 2005 as a Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) initiative and was delivered by the Rural Evidence Research Centre at Birkbeck College (RERC). Many Statistics are only available at Local Authority level. In order to differentiate between Rural and Urban for these statistics it was necessary to classify the LAs based on their rurality.

There are six urban/rural classifications, which are defined as follows:

• Major Urban: districts with either 100,000 people or 50 percent of their population in urban areas with a population of more than 750,000.
• Large Urban: districts with either 50,000 people or 50 percent of their population in one of 17 urban areas with a population between 250,000 and 750,000.
• Other Urban: districts with fewer than 37,000 people or less than 26 percent of their population in rural settlements and larger market towns.
• Significant Rural: districts with more than 37,000 people or more than 26 percent of their population in rural settlements and larger market towns.
• Rural-50: districts with at least 50 percent but less than 80 percent of their population in rural settlements and larger market towns.
• Rural-80: districts with at least 80 percent of their population in rural settlements and larger market towns.

2009 Update to the LA Classification

In April 2009 significant local government reorganisation meant that a change to the LA classification methodology was required. Additional classifications using the revised methodology have been created for a range of higher level geographies.

Product Details

The LA classification (England only) is available for the following geographies:

• Local Authority - available for both post-April 2009 and pre-April 2009
• Primary Care Organisations (PCO)
• NUTS3
• County - available from the Higher Geographies Dataset
• Fire and Rescue Authority - available from the Higher Geographies Dataset
• Police Authority - available from the Higher Geographies Dataset
• Waste Authority - available from the Higher Geographies Dataset
• Transport Authority - available from the Higher Geographies Dataset

For more information on the geographies see the Beginner's Guide to UK Geography - see Links.

Files (XLS format) and guidance (PDF format) can be downloaded free of charge - see Downloads. In addition, Technical Guides (April 2009 and Original) and an Introductory Paper are available from the DEFRA website - see Links.

Downloads

LA Classification (post-April 2009) (170Kb xls)
LA Classification (pre-April 2009) (169Kb xls)
Primary Care Organisation Classification (37Kb xls)
NUTS3 Classification (41Kb xls)
Higher Geographies Dataset (County, Fire, Police, Waste, Transport) (62Kb xls)
Rural and Urban Statistics Guidance Notes (53Kb pdf)

Links

Beginner's Guide to UK Geography
DEFRA: Rural and countryside statistics
Welsh Assembly Government
Scottish Government
Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA)

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This page last revised: Thursday, 17 September 2009