Some countries don’t use a statistical definition but designate urban areas by administrative decision. Many countries use a minimum population size to define an urban area, but that size can be 200 (as in Denmark), 2,000 (Argentina), 5,000 (India) or 50,000 (Japan) or even 100,000 (China).

On March 5th, the UN Statistical Commission endorsed the Degree of Urbanization as a recommended method for international comparisons. To facilitate international comparisons, a coalition of six international organizations developed a new global definition of cities, towns and semi-dense areas, and rural areas. It also means we cannot meaningfully compare the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals' (SDGs) indicators for urban and rural areas across countries. If we can’t compare the performance of urban or rural areas across national borders, then we can’t learn from policies used in other countries. Because national definitions of urban and rural areas differ significantly from one country to another, it is difficult to compare these areas across national borders.

Global city region definition