This manual develops a harmonised methodology to facilitate international statistical comparisons and to classify the entire territory of a country along an urban-rural continuum. The degree of urbanisation classification defines cities, towns and semi-dense areas, and rural areas. This first level of the classification may be complemented by a range of more detailed concepts, such as: metropolitan areas, commuting zones, dense towns, semi-dense towns, suburban or peri-urban areas, villages, dispersed rural areas and mostly uninhabited areas.

The manual is intended to complement and not replace the definitions used by national statistical offices (NSOs) and ministries. It has been designed principally as a guide for data producers, suppliers and statisticians so that they have the necessary information to implement the methodology and ensure coherency within their data collections. It may also be of interest to users of subnational statistics so they may better understand, interpret and use official subnational statistics for taking informed decisions and policymaking.