Demographic and Social Statistics

Overview

In the context of the fact that, at the level of international official statistics and international statistical standards, there is a lack of harmonized and universally implemented definition of urban and rural areas in general, and the definitions of metropolitan, urban, semi-urban, rural and uninhabited areas in particular, several innovative approaches have been developed in recent years in an attempt to develop statistical methodology that could be generally used across world regions and that is based on identical parameters. The European Commission, in co-operation with several international organizations has developed such a methodology for a harmonized delineation of cities and rural areas. The purpose of the Expert Group Meeting is to discuss, in detail, the following points: (1) Assessing the technical comprehensiveness of the methodology as developed by European Commission and partners; (2) Assessing the applicability of the parameters for the delineation of urban and rural areas in terms of levels of density; (3) Assessing the employment of the methodology in national circumstances through the presentation and elaboration of national practices and examples; (4) Elaborating on the suitability of submitting the proposed methodology to the United Nations Statistical Commission for discussion and possible recommendation for the purpose of achieving regional and international comparison and harmonization of urban and rural areas and their statistics.

Main documents

• Programme of work
• Information note for participants
• List of participants
• Concept note
• Conclusions and recommendations

Presentations

• Session 2 ‐ Purpose of convening this Expert Group meeting, rationale and process (based on the Concept Note of this meeting)
• UNSD ‐ United Nations Expert Group Meeting on Statistical Methodology for Delineating Cities and Rural Areas
• Session 3 ‐ Presentation of the proposed methodology for delineation of cities and rural areas developed by the European Commission and partners
• European Commission ‐ Developing a global, people-based definition of cities and rural areas
• European Commission ‐ Specific question related to the degree of urbanisation
• Session 4 ‐ National Presentations on the proposed methodology and its applicability to the national circumstances
• Brazil ‐ Rural and Urban Typologies in Brazil - A comparison with the proposed global methodology
• Mongolia ‐ The proposed methodology and its applicability to the national circumstances: Mongolia
• Session 5 ‐ National Presentations on the proposed methodology and its applicability to the national circumstances
• Zambia ‐ Expert Group Meeting on Statistical Methodology for Delineating Cities and Rural Areas
• Republic of Korea ‐ Urban Classification of Statistics Korea and Comparing with EU Methodology
• Session 6 ‐ National Presentations on the proposed methodology and its applicability to the national circumstances
• France ‐ Delineating Cities and Rural Areas - The frecnh experience with DEGURBA
• Mexico ‐ Methodology for Delineating Cities and Rural Areas in Mexico
• Session 7 ‐ National Presentations on the proposed methodology and its applicability to the national circumstances
• Portugal ‐ United Nations Expert Group Meeting on Statistical Methodology for Delineating Cities and Rural Areas
• Ecuador ‐ Expert Group Meeting on Statistical Methodology for Delineating Cities and Rural Areas
• Session 8 ‐ National Presentations on the proposed methodology and its applicability to the national circumstances
• Indonesia ‐ Urban‐Rural Classification Used by BPS - Statistics Indonesia
• United States of America ‐ Comparing the Degree of Urbanization to the US Census Bureau's Urbanized Areas, Urban Clusters, and Rural Areas
• Session 9 ‐ National Presentations on the proposed methodology and its applicability to the national circumstances
• Canada ‐ The Statistics Canada population centre and rural area definition and the proposed European and Global version of the degree of urbanization: a short comparative overview
• India ‐ Expert Group Meeting on Statistical Methodology for Delineating Cities and Rural Areas
• Session 10 ‐ National Presentations on the proposed methodology and its applicability to the national circumstances
• Poland ‐ Delineating Cities and Rural Areas - Polish case study

Background documents

• International Labour Office ‐ Rural‐urban labour statistics