These Guidelines aim to support decisions about rural development policy by offering concepts and methods to improve the quality, availability, and use of statistics. The Guidelines present and explain how to construct a rural definition that is useful for organizing statistical information about rural areas.
Resource Centre
Rural Statistics
Publications, Technical Reports & Working Papers
Pilot tests of an international definition of urban – rural territories. Summary report
The Technical Report aims to develop an international definition of rural areas and indicators of rural development. This summary report pilot tests were analytical desktop assessments carried out in seven countries with the cooperation of the National Statistical Offices (Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia, France, Malaysia, Pakistan and the United States of America).
Brochures & leaflets, Publications
12-page brochure on Improving Rural Statistics
A 12-page brochure on Improving Rural Statistics is now available.
Publications, Technical Reports & Working Papers
Global Strategy to improve Agricultural and Rural Statistics. Methodology for definition and spatial delimitation of rural areas
This Technical Report aims to present the methodology implemented for the spatial delimitation and production of statistics of rural areas and the results obtained.
Publications, Technical Reports & Working Papers
The Social Dimension of Rural Statistics
This Technical Report focuses on the social dimension of rural statistics, offering ideas and possible solutions to improve information on rural populations that is relevant to the formulation of poverty reduction policies.
Publications, Technical Reports & Working Papers
A Minimum Set of Environmental Indicators for Improving Rural Statistics
This Technical Report first provides an overview of the existing frameworks of environmental indicators that focus on the mutual interactions between rural livelihoods and their biophysical environment.
Publications, Technical Reports & Working Papers
Conceptual Framework and Territorial Definitions for Improving Rural Statistics
This working paper offers a comprehensive view of rural statistics, illustrates how indicators may be selected, and suggests alternative definitions of rural.