1. Urban Classification of Statistics Korea
and Comparing with EU Methodology
Wooram Shin
Deputy Director
Statistics Korea

2. Urban Classification of KOREA
City with a population of 50,000 or more
- Over 60% of the population in urban area
- More than 60% of households engaged in commercial, industrial and urban industries
Regal Classification
Set of Basic Area with a population density of 3,000 or more, or an urban land use rate of 50% or more
KOSTAT Classification

3. Urban Classification of Statistics Korea
Population
Land Use
Population density, over 3,000/㎢
Land use for City, over 50%
farm
building site
railroad site
park
rice paddy
factory lot
dike
sports park
orchard
school site
river
playground
ranch
parking lot
ditch
site for religious use
forest land
lot for
gas station
reservoir
historic site
well
storage lot
fish farm
cemetery
salt field
road
water supply site
miscellaneous land

4. Urban Classification of Statistics Korea

5. Urban Classification of EU Commission
Urban Center
A cluster of contiguous grid cells of 1 ㎢ with a density of at least 1,500 inhabitants per ㎢ and a minimum population of 50,000
contiguous
Urban Cluster
A cluster of contiguous grid cells of 1 ㎢ with a density of at least 300 inhabitants per ㎢ and a minimum population of 5,000만족
not
contiguous
Rural
A grid cell outside urban centers and urban clusters.

6. Urban Classification of EU Commission
Grid Extraction(over 1,500)
Merge & Evaluation
(over 50,000)
Define Urban Center
Urban Center
Grid Extraction(over 300)
※ except urban center
Merge & Evaluation
(over 5,000)
Define Urban Cluster
Urban Cluster

7. Urban Classification of EU Commission
Type
Population
Count of
Cluster
Count of
Grid
Ave
Pop
Urban
Center
38,698,451 77
3,360
502,577
11,517
4,967,167
280
2,189
17,740
2,269
Rural
5,571,432 -
102,248 54
Total
49,237,050
357
107,797
Urban Center
Urban Cluster
Rural

8. Comparing EU methodology with Statistics Korea
EU Commission
Statistics Korea

9. EU & KOSTAT matching rate
Comparing EU methodology with Statistics Korea
KOSTAT urban classification method is 99.3% matched with EU methodology
- Inclusion or intersection is considered to be a match
EU & KOSTAT matching rate
Count
1:1
147
1:2 58
1:3 22
1:4 14
Over 1:5 53

10. EU Commission (Urban Center & Urban Cluster)
Comparing EU methodology with KOSTAT
Population Comparing
Capital area
Kangwon area
Youngnam area
Chungcheong area
Honam·Jeju area
Statistics Korea
21,908,262
800,612
10,116,022
3,617,493
3,643,421
EU Commission (Urban Center & Urban Cluster)
23,142,889
1,043,358
11,015,399
4,220,914
4,243,058

11. Statistics Korea
Thank you.