Why do statistical regions rarely match the regions people actually live in?

Popularity Index: 3 Updated at 2026-10-12 05:34 UTC

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Why do metropolitan areas in the same country get counted with completely different boundaries? Commuter share is what usually decides whether a county joins the metropolitan area Metropolitan area definitions change every census and suddenly you live somewhere else A metropolitan area can double its official population without a single new resident Population thresholds for a metropolitan area range from 50000 to a million depending on the country Comparing metropolitan area populations across countries is close to meaningless Metro area population data drives funding formulas for hospitals and roads Ranking cities by metropolitan area size tells you more about statistics offices than about cities Small statistical regions make it possible to identify people and that is a privacy problem Nobody agrees on where an urban area ends and the countryside begins

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