Area Classification

Introduction

The National Statistics 2001 Area Classification compares geographic areas in terms of a range of population characteristics derived from the 2001 Census, and groups them into a hierarchy of clusters sharing similar combinations of those characteristics. Three separate and distinct cluster hierarchies are available for the local authority, ward, and output area levels of the 2001 Census geography. Within each of these hierarchies there are three levels of clusters, the largest of which are called 'super-groups', which are split into 'groups', which are themselves further split into 'subgroups'. Some clusters are given names reflecting their particular combinations of characteristics, such as 'Thriving London Periphery', 'New & Growing Towns' or 'Industrial Hinterlands', for example.

Similar classifications were produced following censuses in 1971, 1981 and 1991, but this is the first time that such a classification has been produced for the entire UK.

Getting the Data

Data is available from Casweb at Output Area, District and Standard Table Ward level for England, Wales and Northern Ireland and at OA and District Level for Scotland.

Standard Table Ward level data for Scotland is available from the ONS 2001 Area Classification website, however, due to Casweb using General Register Office Census geography we cannot as yet incorporate ST Wards for Scotland.

The Area Classification data can be added to your Casweb output by selecting any of the 'AC ' variables from the Zone atrribute selection box. It is best to select any census data you may require first before adding zone attributes, as Casweb resets its Zone attribute list to default whenever the variable list is refreshed. You do not have to select any census data in order to get the AC variables, zone attributes can be selected on their own.

To select zone attributes use the Ctrl-Click or Shift Click method. To add individual variables hold down the Control (Ctrl) key on your keyboard and click the variable name, you can do this for as many variables as your require. Ctrl-Clicking on a selected variable will deselect it. To select a range of variables click the first variable in the range so that it is highlighted, then hold down the Shift key on your keyboard and click on the last variable in the range you wish to select. You can combine Ctrl-Click and Shift Click to select any combination of zone attributes.

Cluster Characteristics

Summaries of the cluster characteristics can be found in PDF format on the National Statistics Area Classification website

Local Authority level cluster characteristics

Ward level cluster characteristics

Output Area level cluster characteristics

Notes:

1. There are differences in cluster types between the different geographical levels, do not assume that you can simply mix and match data from different levels.
2. At Output Area level ONS have decided to remove the cluster name and just call the clusters by their code, however, the CDU has added back in the original cluster names created by School of Geography at the University of Leeds who created the dataset
3. The National Statistics website has Area Classification data at Local Authority District (LAD) level, this is an amalgamation of the census district and unitary authority levels
4. District level data - before the analysis was carried out, the Isles of Scilly was combined with Penwith and City of London was combined with City of Westminster. This was because of the small populations found in these two local authorities.
5. On the National Statistics website the data at ward level is for 'Statistical Wards', however this is an error and that in actual fact the data is for Standard Table wards. National Statistics have confirmed this, however, as yet (05/05/06) no correction has been made.
6. Due to problems with the data supplied by National Statistics there are no area classifications for any ward in the Moyle District Council of Northern Ireland. The data supplied for Northern Ireland is at Statistical Ward level, which maps directly to Northern Ireland Electoral Wards except for 5 wards in Moyle which fall below the population threshold, these wards have been merged with others in the District, however, we have not been informed which wards they have been merged into. We are working with National Statistics to resolve this problem

Links

National Statistics 2001 Area Classification - Home page of the official NS website
Technical report on OA level dataset - Produced by the School of Geography at the University of Leeds
Interactive map of the local authority level data - Requires an SVG plugin for your web browser
Corresponding LA's - Shows the authorities which are most similar to a particular authority.