definition
strict definition
NZ urban rural code
The four-digit code identifying a New Zealand urban area or rural settlement in the statistical standard for geographic areas kept by Stats NZ.
The urban rural classification covers 745 areas, 195 urban and 402 rural settlements, alongside water and oceanic categories.
Four digits, and the first states the island: North Island codes begin with 1, South Island codes with 2, oceanic codes with 6. Ahipara in the far north is 1006.
The size of a place is carried by a separate classification rather than by this code, which is what makes it stable: a settlement that grows into a larger category keeps its number.