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 (RERC) at Birkbeck College.
Many statistics are only available at local authority level.
In order to differentiate between rural and urban for these statistics, it is necessary to classify the LAs based on their rurality.
There are 6 urban/rural classifications, defined as follows:
major urban: districts with either 100,000 people or 50% of their population in urban areas with a population of more than 750,000
large urban: districts with either 50,000 people or 50% 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% of their population in rural settlements and larger market towns
significant rural: districts with more than 37,000 people or more than 26% of their population in rural settlements and larger market towns
rural-50: districts with at least 50% but less than 80% of their population in rural settlements and larger market towns
rural-80: districts with at least 80% 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 (PCOs)
Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) level 3 classification
parliamentary constituencies
county – available from the higher level geographies data set
fire and rescue authority – available from the higher level geographies data set
police authority – available from the higher level geographies data set
waste authority – available from the higher level geographies data set
transport authority – available from the higher level geographies data set
For more information on the geographies, see “A beginner's guide to UK geographies” under “Related 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 “External links”.
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Related downloads
- Higher Geographies Dataset (County, Fire, Police, Waste, Transport) (63.5 kB xls)
- LA Classification (pre-April 2009) (172.5 kB xls)
- LA Classification (post-April 2009) (173.6 kB xls)
- NUTS3 Classification (41.5 kB xls)
- Primary Care Organisation Classification (37.4 kB xls)
- Parliamentary Constituencies (171.0 kB xls)
- Rural and Urban Statistics Guidance Notes (53.4 kB pdf)