DESIGN OF SOS AND SOSR
Section of State (SOS) and Section of State Range (SOSR) are created by grouping together Urban Centres and Localities (UCLs) into broad classes based on population size. The population sizes are based on the 2016 Census of Population and Housing.
Both SOS and SOSR cover the whole of Australia without gaps or overlaps. States and Territories (S/T) do not necessarily have all SOS or SOSR classes.
SOS provides the broadest definition of ‘urban’ and ‘rural’ Australia. It separates each State or Territory into up to 4 classes of Urban or Rural as described in table 2 below.
TABLE 2: SOS CLASSIFICATION
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SOS Identifiers and Names |
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| Identifier | Name | Definition | Urban or Rural |
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| 0 | Major Urban | Major Urban represents a combination of all Urban Centres with a population of 100,000 or more | Urban |
| 1 | Other Urban | Other Urban represents a combination of all Urban Centres with a population between 1,000 and 99,999 | Urban |
| 2 | Bounded Locality (a) | Bounded Localities represents a combination of all Localities | Rural |
| 3 | Rural Balance | Rural Balance represents the Remainder of State/Territory | Rural |
|
(a) Bounded Locality can include some large localities with a population greater than 1000.
SOSR further disaggregates the SOS classification to provide a more detailed breakup of ‘urban’ and ‘rural’. It separates each State or Territory into up to 11 classes of Urban or Rural as described in table 3 below. The SOS names are shown alongside these classes to highlight the hierarchical nature of the classifications.
TABLE 3: SOSR CLASSIFICATION
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SOSR Identifiers and Names |
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| SOSR Identifier | SOSR Name | SOS Name |
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| 01 | 1 million or more | Major Urban |
| 02 | 250,000 to 999,999 | Major Urban |
| 03 | 100,000 to 249,999 | Major Urban |
| 11 | 50,000 to 99,999 | Other Urban |
| 12 | 20,000 to 49,999 | Other Urban |
| 13 | 10,000 to 19,999 | Other Urban |
| 14 | 5,000 to 9,999 | Other Urban |
| 15 | 1,000 to 4,999 | Other Urban |
| 21 | 500 or more (a) | Bounded Locality |
| 22 | 200 or 499 | Bounded Locality |
| 31 | Remainder of State / Territory | Rural Balance |
|
(a) Bounded Localities in this SOSR can include some large localities with a population greater than 1000.
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