The rural/urban definition was introduced in 2004 as a joint project between a number of government departments and was delivered by the Rural Evidence Research Centre (RERC) at Birkbeck College.
Output areas (OAs)
The definition adopts a settlement-based approach, comprising 4 settlement types, of which 3 are rural:
urban (population over 10,000)
town and fringe
village
hamlet and isolated dwellings
The settlement types are assigned to either a “sparse” or “less sparse” regional setting to give 8 classes:
urban (sparse)
town and fringe (sparse)
village (sparse)
hamlet and isolated dwellings (sparse)
urban (less sparse)
town and fringe (less sparse)
village (less sparse)
hamlet and isolated dwellings (less sparse)
Super output areas (SOAs) and wards
For SOAs and wards, 2 of the rural settlement types used at OA level are merged to give 3 settlement types:
urban (population over 10,000)
town and fringe
village, hamlet and isolated dwellings
Again, these are assigned to either a “sparse” or “less sparse” regional setting to give 6 classes:
urban (sparse)
town and fringe (sparse)
village, hamlet and isolated dwellings (sparse)
urban (less sparse)
town and fringe (less sparse)
village, hamlet and isolated dwellings (less sparse)
Product details
The rural/urban definition is available for England and Wales for the following geographies:
output areas (OAs)
lower layer super output areas (LSOAs)
middle layer super output areas (MSOAs)
Census Area Statistics (CAS) wards
2003 statistical wards
For more information on the geographies, see “A beginner's guide to UK geographies”.
Files (CSV format), metadata and guidance (PDF format) can be downloaded free of charge.
In addition, an introductory guide and methodology report are available from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) website.