Standard Geographical Classification (SGC) Volume I. The Classification

The Standard Geographical Classification (SGC) provides a systematic classification structure that categorizes all of the geographic area of Canada. The SGC is the official classification used in the Census of Population and other Statistics Canada surveys.

The classification is organized in two volumes: Volume I, The Classification and Volume II, Reference Maps.

Volume I describes the classification and related standard geographic areas and place names. It provides names and codes for the geographical regions of Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions (counties, regional municipalities) and census subdivisions (municipalities). The names and codes for census metropolitan areas, census agglomerations, census metropolitan influenced zones, economic regions, census agricultural regions and census consolidated subdivisions are shown in the classification variants of the SGC. Volume I explains the changes between the current version of the SGC and the previous version that impact upon the classification, such as changes in name, type or code, and indicates how the new and old codes relate to one another.

Reference maps showing the locations and boundaries of the standard geographic areas in the classification are in Volume II, Reference Maps