| Abbreviations | Standard Census Geographic Units |
Capsule Description | SGC Code (No. digits in brackets) |
Coverage | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. of Units in Canada |
Size based on 1996 Population |
||||
| BLOCK | Block | A block is an area bounded on all sides by roads and/or boundaries of standard geographic areas. Blocks cover all the territory of Canada. The block is the smallest geographic area for which population and dwelling counts are disseminated. Blocks respect CT and CSD boundaries. | PR(2) + CD(2) + DA(4) + Block(2) |
478,707 | About 600 persons |
| CA | Census Agglomerations | Labour market areas with an urbanized core of at least 10,000 population, based on the prevoius census. | CA(3) | 113 | From 10,000 to over 115,000 persons |
| CAR | Census Agricultural Region |
Census agricultural regions are composed of groups of adjacent census divisions | PR(2) + CAR(2) | 82 | About 5,000 persons |
| CCS | Census Consolidated Subdivisions |
A census consolidated subdivision (CCS) is a grouping of census subdivisions. Generally the smaller, more urban census subdivisions (towns, villages, etc.) are combined with the surrounding, larger, more rural census subdivision, in order to create a geographic level between the census subdivision and the census division | PR(2) + CD(2) + CCS(3) | 2446 | Less than 100 to around 2,000,000 persons |
| CD | Census Divisions | Census division (CD) is the general term for provincially legislated areas (such as county, municipalité régionale de comté and regional district) or their equivalents. Census divisions are intermediate geographic areas between the province level and the municipality (census subdivision) | PR(2) + CD(2) | 288 | 5,000 to over 2,000,000 persons |
| CMA | Census Metropolitan Areas |
Main labour market areas of urban areas (urbanized cores) of at least 100,000 population, based on previous census | CMA(3) | 27 | From 100,000 to over 3,000,000 persons |
| CSD | Census Subdivisions | Census subdivision (CSD) is the general term for municipalities (as determined by provincial legislation) or their equivalents (for example, Indian reserves, Indian settlements and unorganized territories) | PR(2) + CD(2) + CSD(3) | 5600 | Less than 100 to around 1,000,000 persons |
| CT | Census Tracts | Census tracts (CTs) are small, relatively stable geographic areas in census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations (with an urban core population of 50,000 or more at the previous census) | CMA(3) + CTname(7.2) or CMA(3) + CTcode(4) |
4798 | About 4,000-8,000 persons |
| DA | Dissemination Areas | The dissemination area (DA) is a small, relatively stable geographic unit composed of one or more blocks. It is the smallest standard geographic area for which all census data are disseminated. DA boundaries respect the boundaries of all standard geographic areas except for Federal Electoral Districts (FEDs). DAs cover all the territory of Canada | PR(2) + CD(2) + DA(4) | 52,993 | About 400-700 persons |
| DPL | Designated Place | A designated place is normally a small community or settlement that does not meet the criteria established by Statistics Canada to be a census subdivision (an area with municipal status) or an urban area | PR(2) + DPL(4) | 1261 | About 600 persons |
| DPL_CSD | Designated Place Census Subdivision Part |
Designated places are not required to respect census division (CD) or census subdivision (CSD) boundaries, and as a result, a number of DPLs straddle one or more CDs or CSDs. The DPL Part Flag identifies the number of CSDs that a DPL straddles (or into how many partitions the DPL is divided as a result of straddling a CSD or CD) | PR(2) + CD(2) + CSD(3) + DPL(4) |
About 600 persons | |
| EA | Enumeration Areas | Not used as for dissemination in 2001 census. See Dissemination Area.
An enumeration area is the geographic area canvassed by one census representative. An EA is composed of one or more adjacent blocks. EAs cover all the territory of Canada. Enumeration areas are only used for census data collection. The dissemination area (DA) replaces the EA as a basic unit for dissemination |
42,851 | About 600 persons | |
| ER | Economic Region | An economic region (ER) is a grouping of complete census divisions (with one exception in Ontario) created as a standard geographic unit for analysis of regional economic activity | PR(2) + ER(2) | 76 | |
| FED | Federal Electoral District |
A federal electoral district is an area represented by a member of the House of Commons. (source: Canada Elections Act, 1990) | PR(2) + FED(2) | 301 | About 85,000 persons |
| PR | Province/Territory | The major political divisions of the country | PR(2) | 13 | From almost 22,000 to over 9,000,000 persons |
| UA | Urban Areas | An urban area has a minimum population concentration of 1,000 and a population density of at least 400 per square kilometre, based on the current census population count. All territory outside urban areas is classified rural. Taken together, urban and rural areas cover all of Canada | PR(2) + UA(4) | 913 | About 5,000 persons |
By S Kumar, Data Library Service, University of Toronto, Rev. by L Ruus