Register of Geographic Codes: Definitive UK Statistical Geographies (December 2022)

The Register of Geographic Codes (RGC) is the definitive list of UK statistical geographies maintained by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This version (V2) corrects statistical geography names and was last updated on the platform on 2025-08-11. The RGC is maintained on behalf of the Government Statistical Service and should be used with the separate Code History Database.

Use Cases

• Mapping and analyzing UK data based on official statistical geography codes.
• Maintaining consistent geographic identifiers for longitudinal studies using the code history relationship.
• Validating and standardizing location data for UK-focused applications using the definitive code list.

Strengths

• Definitive list maintained by the authoritative source (Office for National Statistics).
• Includes relationships between active and archived code ranges, providing historical context.
• Version V2 specifically created to correct statistical geography names, indicating active maintenance.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

Office for National Statistics (ONS) on behalf of the Government Statistical Service.

Collection Method

Officially maintained and coordinated register.

Time Range

Snapshot for December 2022.

Freshness

Last updated 2025-08-11 08:15:02; freshness should be verified.

Geography

United Kingdom.