The Rural, Remote and Metropolitan
Areas (RRMA) classification was developed in 1994 by the Department
of Primary Industries and Energy, and the then titled Department of
Human Services and Health (now Australian Government Department of
Health and Ageing). This classification is currently under review
by the Department of Health and Ageing.
Seven categories are included in this
classification - 2 metropolitan, 3 rural and 2 remote. The
classification is based on Statistical Local Areas (SLA) and
allocates each SLA in Australia to a category based primarily on
population numbers and an index of remoteness. The index of
remoteness is used to allocate non-metropolitan SLAs to either the
rural or remote zone.
Structure of the Rural, Remote and
Metropolitan Areas (RRMA) classification
| Zone | | Category |
|---|
Metropolitan zone | M1 | Capital cities |
| M2 | Other metropolitan centres (urban
centre population > 100,000) |
Rural zone | R1 | Large rural centres (urban centre
population 25,000-99,999) |
| R2 | Small rural centres (urban centre
population 10,000-24,999) |
| R3 | Other rural areas (urban centre
population < 10,000)
|
Remote zone | Rem1 | Remote centres (urban centre population
> 4,999) |
| Rem2 | Other remote areas (urban centre
population < 5,000) |
This index of remoteness was
constructed for each non-metropolitan SLA using 'distance factors'
related to urban centres containing a population of 10,000 persons
or more, plus a factor called 'personal distance'. Personal
distance relates to population density and indicates the
'remoteness' or average distance of residents from one another.
It is important to note that this
method of allocating an SLA to a rural or remote zone is not
perfect. Both the size of SLAs and the distribution of the
population within SLAs vary enormously. This can mean, for example,
that within a remote SLA there can be pockets that are rural rather
than remote, and vice versa.