Definitions of "rural"

The working paper Definitions of "rural", available today, compares several definitions for the term "rural" used by researchers for national and provincial analysis involving databases at Statistics Canada.

Defining this term is of paramount importance for researchers. The Canadian Rural Health Research Society recently completed a one-day workshop on defining the concept of "rural" for rural health research.

In addition, the federal Rural Secretariat is addressing the issue of defining the term because each of its regional offices wishes to produce a profile of the socio-economic characteristics of the rural population. It is, consequently, preferable to have a consistent definition of "rural".

Statistics Canada has published census data for one definition of "rural" for more than a century. This "census rural" definition refers to the population outside centres with a population of 1,000 or more.

However, one-third of this "census rural" population lives within the boundaries of census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations. A census metropolitan area has an urban core of 100,000 or more and a census agglomeration has an urban core of 10,000 or more. Both include all neighbouring towns and municipalities where more than 50% of the workforce commutes to the urban core.

Some analysts have noted that these "census rural" individuals are not "rural" in the sense that they have easier access to jobs in the city and easier access to cities to sell their goods and services. Consequently, for some policy and research issues, analysts often require a different definition of "rural".

This working paper recommends that analysts consider the scale of a rural issue - whether it is local, community or regional - before selecting a definition. This will influence the type of territorial unit upon which to focus the analysis and the appropriate definition to use.

As a starting point, or benchmark, it recommends the "rural and small town" definition. "Rural" would therefore be defined as the population living outside census metropolitan areas and outside census agglomerations - that is, outside the commuting zone of larger urban centres. In 2001, 6.1 million (20.6%) Canadians were living in "rural and small town" areas.

The working paper Definitions of "rural", 1996 (21-601-MIE, no. 61, free) is now available on Statistics Canada's website (). From the Products and services page, under Browse our Internet publications, choose Free, then Agriculture.

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Valerie du Plessis (613-951-8233, valerie.du-plessis@statcan.gc.ca).