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This is a list of urban areas in the European Union with over 500,000 inhabitants as of 2022. The data comes from Demographia and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. [1] [2] Demographia provides figures for urban areas (including conurbations), [1] while the UN DESA figures are a mix agglomerations, cities proper and metropolitan areas. [2] For comparison, Function Urban Area (FUA) population figures by Eurostat are also provided, [3] however, these measure the wider metropolitan areas.

Important notes

  • This is a list of urban areas, not a list of metropolitan areas. Urban areas are contiguous built-up areas where houses are typically not more than 200 m apart, not including rivers, parks, roads, industrial fields, etc. A metropolitan area is an urban area plus any satellite cities around it and any agricultural land in between. For instance Paris is sometimes listed with 12 million inhabitants, Stuttgart is frequently listed with 2.2 million inhabitants, Munich with 2 million or more, etc., indicating the wider metropolitan area of those places. Metropolitan areas, which imply much more complicated definitions (such as the proportion of people in satellite cities working in the core of the metropolitan area), can be accurately computed only by statistical offices, after they have chosen a definition for metropolitan areas, whereas urban areas can be computed by any institution or person with the study of maps, satellite imagery and other geographical data in order to determine the outer limits of a continuous built-up area with one or more neighbouring cities. Furthermore, the list does not make a difference between cities that have multiple satellites and cities that do not. Therefore, two cities with the same demographics for their urban area will have an equal ranking on this list, even if one of the two cities may be much larger as it is the core of a number of satellites.
  • This is a list of urban areas, not a list of administrative cities. For example, the list of conurbations contains the urban area of Lille-Kortrijk. Lille and Kortrijk remain two very distinct cities, each belonging to a different country, culture and language area. For a list of the largest cities of the European Union by population, see List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits.
  • The study of urban areas is useful to analyse how cities develop, which in turn can be used to define transportation, planning and environmental policies, to adjust administrative boundaries etc. At the same time its limitations have to be acknowledged. It is a purely geographic study and disregards all other factors that contribute to the analysis of the functional city. For instance, several cities in the European Union, such as Brussels, have reserved green belts in the outskirts which impacts the size of urban areas but not the "perceived city" as these green belts have now become integrated in what people consider to be the functional city.

Urban areas over 500,000 inhabitants (2015–2022)

Rank Urban area Image State Population (2023) (urban areas; Demographia) [1] ESPON Population (Functional Urban Area) [4] Population (UN) [2] FUA population (metropolitan areas; Eurostat) [3] Density
(per km2; Demographia) [1] 		Annual growth
rate (%)
1 Paris   France 11,108,000 12,998,583 10,901,000 (agglomeration) 13,125,142 (2020) 3,893 1.83 [5]
2 Madrid   Spain 6,798,000 5,263,000 6,497,000 (city proper) 6,982,656 (2022) 4,980
3 Ruhr   Germany 6,769,000 5,376,000 N/A N/A 2,523
4 Milan   Italy 5,471,000 7,636,000 3,132,000 (metro) 4,934,205 (2022) 2,459
5 Barcelona   Spain 5,317,000 4,082,000 5,494,000 (city proper) 5,093,585 (2022) 4,959
6 Berlin   Germany 4,286,000 4,016,000 3,552,000 (city proper) 4,979,867 (2021) 3,134
7 Naples   Italy 3,653,000 3,714,000 2,198,000 (metro) 3,303,711 (2022) 3,544
8 Athens   Greece 3,309,000 3,761,000 3,156,000 (agglomeration) 3,828,434 (2011) 5,678
9 Rome   Italy 3,239,000 5,190,000 4,210,956 (metro) 4,291,581 (2022) 2,829
10 Rotterdam– The Hague
  Netherlands 3,027,000 1,904,000 N/A 3,035,679 (2022) 2,981
11 Lisbon   Portugal 2,832,000 2,591,000 2,927,000 (metro) 3,049,222 (2023) 2,979
12 Budapest   Hungary 2,407,000 2,523,000 1,759,00 (city proper) 3,001,643 (2022) 2,414
13 Brussels   Belgium 2,238,000 2,639,000 2,050,000 (metro) 3,350,969 (2022) 2,572 0.02 [6]
14 Cologne–Bonn
  Germany 2,218,000 3,070,000 N/A 3,005,728 (2021) 2,845
15 Stockholm   Sweden 2,200,000 2,171,000 1,583,000 (agglomeration) 2,308,143 (2018) 2,598 0.58 [6]
16 Hamburg   Germany 2,189,000 2,983,000 1,793,000 (city proper) 3,421,692 (2021) 2,753
17 Munich   Germany 2,112,000 2,665,000 1,504,000 (city proper) 3,016,834 (2021) 4,384 0.72 [6]
18 Bucharest   Romania 2,097,000 2,064,000 1,821,000 (city proper) 2,412,530 (2015) 5,092 0.10 [6]
19 Frankfurt   Germany 2,055,000 2,764,000 n/a 2,678,557 (2021) 3,112
20 Vienna   Austria 2,030,000 2,584,000 1,901,000 (city proper) n/a 6,029 1.04 [6]
21 Warsaw   Poland 2,028,000 2,785,000 1,768,000 (city proper) 3,374,742 (2022) 3,711
22 Katowice   Poland 1,903,000 3,029,000 N/A 2,417,386 (2022) 2,615
23 Amsterdam   Netherlands 1,736,000 2,497,000 1,132,000 (agglomeration) 2,915,114 (2022) 3,565
24 Copenhagen   Denmark 1,650,000 2,350,000 1,321,000 (metro) n/a 2,922
25 Valencia   Spain 1,547,000 1,398,000 N/A 1,775,845 (2022) 3,930 0.29 [6]
26 Turin   Italy 1,492,000 1,601,000 1,786,000 (metro) 1,712,372 (2022) 3,919 −0.16 [6]
27 Lyon   France 1,424,000 1,669,000 1,690,000 (agglomeration) 2,280,845 (2019) 3,089 0.50 [6]
28 Marseille   France 1,406,000 1,530,000 1,599,000 (agglomeration) 1,879,601 (2020) 2,041 0.46 [6]
29 Stuttgart   Germany 1,397,000 2,289,000 N/A 2,531,040 (2020) 2,931
30 Dublin   Ireland 1,386,000 1,477,000 1,201,000 (agglomeration) 1,793,902 (2011) 3,006 1.14 [6]
31 Porto   Portugal 1,364,000 1,245,000 1,307,000 (agglomeration) 1,316,989 (2023) 1,715
32 Lille   France,   Belgium 1,315,000 1,379,000 1,054,000 (agglomeration) 1,515,061 (2020) 2,489 0.50 [6]
33 Prague   Czech Republic 1,240,000 1,669,000 1,292,000 (city proper) 2,216,746 (2022) 4,023 −0.07 [6]
34 Helsinki   Finland 1,146,000 1,285,000 1,279,000 (agglomeration) 1,551,959 (2022) 2,223 0.81 [6]
35 Seville   Spain 1,138,000 1,180,000 N/A 1,556,975 (2022) 4,185
36 Sofia   Bulgaria 1,087,000 3,174,000 1,272,000 (agglomeration) 1,531,867 (2022) 5,246 0.78 [6]
37 Antwerp   Belgium 1,070,000 1,406,000 1,032,000 (metro) 1,157,068 (2022) 1,608 0.05 [6]
38 Toulouse   France 946,000 832,000 N/A 1,470,899 (2020) 1,864 0.72 [6]
39 Utrecht   Netherlands 907,000 692,000 N/A 895,000 (2022) 2,894
40 Gdańsk   Poland 874,000 993,000 N/A 1,223,884 (2021) 2,909
41 Nice   France 871,000 1,082,000 N/A 618,489 (2019) 1,868 0.52 [6]
42 Thessaloniki   Greece 844,000 1,052,000 N/A 973,997 (2011) 3,910 0.39 [6]
43 Bordeaux   France 827,000 918,000 N/A 1,376,375 (2020) 1,104 0.60 [6]
44 Łódź   Poland 798,000 1,165,000 N/A 893,083 (2021) 2,751
45 Bilbao   Spain 782,000 947,000 N/A 1,041,059 (2022) 5,297
46 Florence   Italy 764,000 645,000 N/A 784,279 (2022) 3,352
47 Palermo   Italy 747,000 861,000 N/A 986,721 (2022) 4,241 0.12 [6]
48 Kraków   Poland 744,000 1,236,000 N/A 1,489,912 (2021) 3,503
49 Hanover   Germany 742,000 997,000 N/A 1,289,320 (2021) 2,558
50 Nuremberg   Germany 720,000 1,443,000 N/A 1,181,541 (2021) 3,055
51 Zaragoza   Spain 707,000 639,000 N/A 770,370 (2022) 4,789
52 Dresden   Germany 698,000 882,000 N/A 965,353 (2021) 2,567
53 Málaga   Spain 692,000 944,000 N/A 887,146 (2022) 5,138
54 Zagreb   Croatia 691,000 1,153,255 N/A 1,161,259 (2022) 3,706
55 Catania   Italy 687,000 707,000 N/A 643,274 (2022) 2,550
56 Gothenburg   Sweden 629,000 759,000 N/A 1,021,831 (2018) 2,198
57 Poznań   Poland 680,000 919,000 N/A 1,051,414 (2021) 2,004
58 Bergamo   Italy 660,000 662,000 N/A 310,020 (2022) 2,022
59 Mannheim   Germany 658,000 683,000 N/A n/a 2,920
60 Leipzig   Germany 636,000 842,000 N/A 956,290 (2021) 2,506
61 Wrocław   Poland 635,000 861,000 N/A 963,311 (2021) 2,636
62 Las Palmas   Spain 619,000 640,000 N/A 630,900 (2022) 2,879
63 Riga   Latvia 603,000 1,195,000 N/A 917,351 (2022) 2,217
64 Bremen   Germany 599,000 1,077,000 N/A 1,046,897 (2021) 2,161
65 Nantes   France 578,000 708,000 N/A 1,022,775 (2020) 2,277
66 Aachen   Germany 571,000 672,000 N/A 594,324 (2020) 2,080
67 Vilnius   Lithuania 550,000 680,000 N/A 716,856 (2021) 1,966
68 Genoa   Italy 546,000 694,000 N/A 681,459 (2022) 7,027
69 Palma   Spain 522,000 433,000 N/A 709,091 (2020) 3,359
70 Santa Cruz   Spain 510,000 N/A 520,728 (2021) 4,688

Other notable urban areas

Urban area Image State ESPON Population (Functional Urban Area) [4] FUA population (metropolitan areas; Eurostat) [7]
Aarhus   Denmark 845,971
Oviedo– Gijón– Avilés   Spain 844,000
Alicante– Elche– Elda   Spain 793,000
Ostrava   Czech Republic 709,768 713,812 (2017)
Bologna   Italy 690,000 785,941 (2021)
Malmö   Sweden 658,050 669,741 (2018)
Grenoble   France 555,000 717,469 (2019)
Douai- Lens   France 550,000
Toulon   France 518,000 573,230 (2019)
Charleroi   Belgium 489,264
Odense   Denmark 485,672
Granada   Spain 440,000 571,447 (2020)
Vigo   Spain 413,000 547,151 (2020)
Montpellier   France 801,595 (2019)
Eindhoven   Netherlands 771,263 (2021)
Rennes   France 755,668 (2019)
Brno   Czech Republic 727,759 (2017)
Bari   Italy 727,549 (2021)
Heidelberg   Germany 709,840 (2020)
Rouen   France 705,627 (2019)
Augsburg   Germany 684,705 (2020)
Bratislava   Slovakia 669,592 (2020)
Kiel   Germany 649,578 (2020)
Murcia   Spain 646,099 (2020)
Catania   Italy 640,088 (2021)
Tallinn   Estonia 609,515 (2021)
Ghent   Belgium 605,956 (2018)
Venice   Italy 552,414 (2021)
Groningen   Netherlands 543,707 (2021)
Plovdiv   Bulgaria 542,407 (2020)
Padua   Italy 535,922 (2021)
Münster   Germany 535,879 (2020)
Erfurt   Germany 524,565 (2020)
Tours   France 519,778 (2019)
Verona   Italy 517,271 (2021)
Nancy   France 510,306 (2019)
Clermont-Ferrand   France 507,479 (2019)

By country

Number of cities by country with urban areas over 500,000 inhabitants represented in the table
Country No. of cities
  Germany 19
  France 17
  Spain 15
  Italy 14
  Poland 7
  Netherlands 5
  Belgium 5
  Czech Republic 3
  Portugal 2
  Sweden 2

Top 30 urban areas by population

class=notpageimage|
Location of the top 30 urban areas by population in the European Union.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Demographia" (PDF), www.demographia.com
  2. ^ a b c UN's report on The World’s Cities in 2018
  3. ^ a b Population on 1 January by age groups and sex - functional urban areas. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
  4. ^ a b "ESPON Project 1.4.3 Study on Urban Functions" (PDF). 24 September 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  5. ^ Aire urbaine de Paris (001), INSEE
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t United Nations: World Urbanization Prospects Archived 10 March 2007 at archive.today
  7. ^ Population on 1 January by age groups and sex - functional urban areas. Retrieved 21 September 2022.

http://www.demographia.com/db-worldua.pdf

External links

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