Standard Geographical Classification (SGC) 2021 - Volume I, The Classification

Release date: February 9, 2022

Status

This standard was approved as a departmental standard on September 7, 2021.

2021 version of the SGC

The standard classification version of the SGC 2021 provides standard names and codes for the geographical regions of Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions (counties, regional county municipalities) and census subdivisions (municipalities).

The names and codes for census metropolitan areas, census agglomerations, economic regions, North and South, census agricultural regions and census consolidated subdivisions are shown in the variants of SGC 2021. The first use of the standard version of SGC 2021 and its variants was in the 2021 Census.

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PDF format

 SGC 2021 Version 1.0 (PDF, 7.25 MB) (catalogue no. 12-571-X)

CSV format

Changes to Municipal Boundaries, Status and Names

Variants of the SGC 2021

Although the SGC is the basic system of geographic units used for collecting and disseminating statistics in Statistics Canada, it cannot serve all statistical purposes for which the presentation and analysis of economic and social data are required. Other geographic units that are based on aggregations of the SGC geographic units are included as classification variants of the SGC.

Each classification variant of the SGC is a set of customized groupings that use SGC’s census subdivisions as building blocks. In Statistics Canada, variants are created and adopted in cases where the version of the classification does not fully meet specific user needs for disseminating data or for sampling in surveys. A classification variant is based on a classification version such as SGC 2021. In a variant, the categories of the classification version are split, aggregated or regrouped to provide additions or alternatives (e.g., context-specific additions) to the standard structure of the base version.

Five classification variants have been recognized as part of the SGC 2021:

Variant of Standard Geographical Classification (SGC) 2021 for Statistical area classification

This classification variant provides standard names and codes for census metropolitan areas, census agglomerations and census metropolitan influenced zones. It shows the hierarchical relationship between these geographic areas and census subdivisions (municipalities).

Variant of Standard Geographical Classification (SGC) 2021 for Statistical area classification by Province and Territory

This classification variant provides standard names and codes for census metropolitan areas (CMAs), census agglomerations (CAs) and census metropolitan influenced zones (MIZs) by province and territory. It shows the hierarchical relationship between these geographic areas and census subdivisions (municipalities). This classification variant also shows the hierarchical relationship between the geographical regions of Canada, provinces and territories, CMAs, CAs and MIZs.

Variant of Standard Geographical Classification (SGC) 2021 for Economic Regions

This classification variant provides standard names and codes for economic regions. It shows the hierarchical relationship with their component census divisions and census subdivisions by province and territory.

Variant of Standard Geographical Classification (SGC) 2021 for Agricultural Regions

This classification variant provides standard names and codes for census agricultural regions. It shows the hierarchical relationship with their component census divisions, census consolidated subdivisions and census subdivisions by province and territory.

Variant of Standard Geographical Classification (SGC) 2021 for North and South

This classification variant provides a definition of the North and South of Canada. It shows the hierarchical relationship with their component census divisions and census subdivisions by province and territory. This variant was originally developed for the analysis of justice statistics.

Reference Maps

Volume II consists of four maps of Canada that illustrate locations of individual census divisions (CDs), census metropolitan areas, census agglomerations, census metropolitan influenced zones and economic regions. These are referred to as the National maps. Also included are twenty-three maps that show the boundaries of CDs and census subdivisions. These are referred to as the Census division - Census subdivision maps.

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