List of urban areas in the European Union

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

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  • 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.

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

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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
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[5]
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[5]
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[5]
18 Bucharest  Romania 2,097,000 2,064,000 1,821,000 (city proper) 2,412,530 (2015) 5,092 0.10[5]
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[5]
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[5]
26 Turin  Italy 1,492,000 1,601,000 1,786,000 (metro) 1,712,372 (2022) 3,919 −0.16[5]
27 Lyon  France 1,424,000 1,669,000 1,690,000 (agglomeration) 2,280,845 (2019) 3,089 0.50[5]
28 Marseille  France 1,406,000 1,530,000 1,599,000 (agglomeration) 1,879,601 (2020) 2,041 0.46[5]
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[5]
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[5]
33 Prague  Czech Republic 1,240,000 1,669,000 1,292,000 (city proper) 2,216,746 (2022) 4,023 −0.07[5]
34 Helsinki  Finland 1,146,000 1,285,000 1,279,000 (agglomeration) 1,551,959 (2022) 2,223 0.81[5]
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[5]
37 Antwerp  Belgium 1,070,000 1,406,000 1,032,000 (metro) 1,157,068 (2022) 1,608 0.05[5]
38 Toulouse  France 946,000 832,000 N/A 1,470,899 (2020) 1,864 0.72[5]
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[5]
42 Thessaloniki  Greece 844,000 1,052,000 N/A 973,997 (2011) 3,910 0.39[5]
43 Bordeaux  France 827,000 918,000 N/A 1,376,375 (2020) 1,104 0.60[5]
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[5]
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

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Urban area Image State ESPON Population (Functional Urban Area)[4] FUA population (metropolitan areas; Eurostat)[6]
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

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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

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

See also

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References

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  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. ^ 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
  6. ^ Population on 1 January by age groups and sex - functional urban areas. Retrieved 21 September 2022.

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

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