Urban areas of New Zealand


defines urban areas of New Zealand for statistical purposes. The urban areas comprise cities, towns and other conurbations of a thousand people or more. In combination, the urban areas of the country constitute New Zealand's urban population. As of, the urban population made up % of New Zealand's total population.
The Statistical Standard for Geographic Areas 2018 replaced the NZSAC92 standard in 2018.
There are four classes of urban area under the new standard:
Under the New Zealand Standard Areas Classification 1992, there are three classes of urban area:
Statistics New Zealand also defines rural centres with a population of 300 to 999 people. While these do not fit the standard international definition of an urban population, they serve to distinguish between true rural dwellers and those in rural settlements or towns.

Statistical Standard for Geographic Areas 2018

The following shows the urban areas as classified under SSGA18.

Major urban areas

Description of main urban areas

The population figures shown are Statistics New Zealand's resident population estimates at the For rankings in various criteria see the ranked list of New Zealand urban areas. Four main urban areas are subdivided into urban zones. The following cities are listed by location from north to south.

North Island

The population figures shown are Statistics New Zealand's resident population estimates at the
The following towns are listed by location from north to south.

North Island

North Island

;1992
Original classification
;1996
No change
;2001
;2006
;2013