Rural Areas (2018)

Rural areas represent land-based areas outside urban areas. They are classified as rural settlements or other rural.

Rural settlements are statistically defined areas with no administrative or legal basis. A rural settlement is a cluster of residential dwellings about a place that usually contains at least one community or public building.

Rural settlements are usually combined with the surrounding rural area to form an SA2, in order to reach the target SA2 population size. In some instances, the settlement and the SA2 may have the same name, for example, West Melton rural settlement is part of the West Melton SA2.

Other rural areas are the mainland areas and islands located outside urban areas or rural settlements. Other rural areas include land used for agriculture and forestry, conservation areas, and regional and national parks.

Other rural areas are defined by territorial authority.