The geographic areas table 2024 is a downloadable csv file that classifies meshblocks into larger geographic areas, such as statistical areas, territorial authorities, and regional councils. You can use the areas file, also known as a concordance file, to see how the various geographic boundaries are related and how they have changed over time.
For each meshblock, there is a series of codes that link to any current meshblock-defined geographic area, as well as historic geographic areas. Concordance files are available from different years, to enable data for the same area classification to be compared over time.
The areas table can be used in conjunction with the geographic boundary layers available on Stats NZ's Geographic Data Service.
Geographic areas tables for earlier years are also available on the Geographic Data Service.
Names are provided with and without tohutō/macrons, as applicable. Where a descriptor column contains names with macrons it is suffixed with ‘name’. The corresponding column containing values without macrons is suffixed with ‘name_ascii’.
From 2024 we are moving to a new process where geographies will only be created and published when they change. The year on the column name in the table shows the current version of that geography. Refer to Changes to the geographic boundaries annual release for more information.
