Largest urban areas of the European Union

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Largest urban areas of the European Union

This is a list of all the urban area
Urban area

An urban area is an area with an increased Population density of human-created structures in comparison to the areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be city, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlet ....
s of the European Union
European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 European Union member state, located primarily in Europe. It was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community....
which have more than 750,000 inhabitants in 2005.

This list is an attempt to present a consistent list of population figures for urban areas in the European Union. All the figures here have been compiled by Demographia.

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Important notes

This is a list of urban areas, not a list of metropolitan area
Metropolitan area

A metropolitan area is a large population center consisting of a large metropolis and its adjacent zone of influence, or of more than one closely adjoining neighboring central city and their zone of influence....
s. Urban areas are contiguous built-up areas where houses are typically not more than 200 metres apart (discounting river
River

A river is a natural stream of water, usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, or another stream. In some cases a river flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water....
s, park
Park

A park is a Environmental protection, in its natural or semi-natural state or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment....
s, road
Road

A road is an identifiable Road number, way or Trail between Location . Roads are typically smoothed, Pavement , or otherwise prepared to allow easy travel; though they need not be, and historically many roads were simply recognizable routes without any formal construction or Maintenance, repair and operations....
s, industrial fields, etc.). A metropolitan area is an urban area plus the satellite
Satellite

In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an Physical body which has been placed into orbit by human endeavor. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
cities around the urban area and the agricultural land in between.
This is a list of urban areas, not a list of administrative cities. The list below contains for instance 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, please see Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits
Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits

This is a list of the largest cities in the European Union by population within city limits. It deals exclusively with the areas within city administrative boundaries as opposed to urban areas or metropolitan areas, which are generally larger in terms of population than the main city....
.
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 and London have introduced green belt
Green belt

A green belt or greenbelt is a policy or land use designation used in land use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural landscape surrounding or neighbouring urban areas....
s which impacts the urban area but not the "perceived city" as these green belts have now become integrated in what people consider to be the functional city. 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.
Please do not be surprised if you are used to higher figures for the cities listed below. London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
is sometimes listed with 14 million inhabitants, Stuttgart
Stuttgart

Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-W?rttemberg in southern Germany. The list of cities in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 590,429 while the metropolitan area referred to as Stuttgart Region has a population of 2.7 million ....
is frequently listed with 2.2 million inhabitants, Munich
Munich

Munich is the capital city of Bavaria, Germany. Munich is located on the River Isar north of the Northern Limestone Alps. Munich is the third largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg....
with 2 million or more, etc. This is because figures here are only for urban areas, which are typically smaller than metropolitan areas. Urban areas can be computed by private people or institutions using maps and looking where the built-up area stops. 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.
Several large urban areas in Europe are not listed since they are not part of an EU member state. These include Moscow
Moscow

Moscow is the capital and the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia of the Russian Federation. It is also the largest European cities and metropolitan areas, with the Moscow metropolitan area ranking among the largest urban areas in the world....
(14,150,000), Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a types of inhabited localities in Russia and a federal subjects of Russia of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea....
(4,570,000), and Istanbul
Istanbul

Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, List of metropolitan areas in Europe by population, and List of cities proper by population in the world with a population of 12.6 million....
(10,970,000, including suburbs in Asia).

Urban areas over 750,000 inhabitants

]]

Rank	Urban Area	State	Population (2008 est.)	Density (per km²)	Annual growth rate (%)
1	Paris Paris Paris is the Capital of France and the country's largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the ?le-de-France Regions of France ....		10,660,000	3,400	0.83
2	London London London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....		8,320,000	5,100	0.07
3	Ruhr area Ruhr Area The Ruhr Area, is an urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With 4435 km? and a population of some 5.3 million, it is the largest urban agglomeration in Germany.... (Ruhrgebiet)		7,250,000	2,750	0.01
4	Madrid Madrid Madrid is the Capital and largest city of Spain. It is the Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its Madrid metropolitan area is the Largest urban areas of the European Union in the European Union after Paris aire urbaine, Greater London Urban Area, a...		4,990,000	5,200	0.27
5	Milan Milan Milan is the second largest city of Italy, located in the plains of Lombardy. It is the capital in the Province of Milan, as well as the Regions of Italy capital of Lombardy....		4,150,000	1,750	-0.16
6	Barcelona Barcelona Barcelona is the capital and most populous city of the Autonomous communities of Spain of Catalonia and the second largest city in Spain, with a population of 1,615,908 in 2008, while the population of the Metropolitan Area was 3,161,081....		3,930,000	4,850	0.12
7	Athens Athens Athens , the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the List of cities by time of continuous habitation, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....		3,760,000	5,400	0.29
8	Berlin Berlin Berlin is the Capital of Germany city and one of sixteen States of Germany of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is the country's largest city....		3,680,000	3,750	0.00
9	Katowice Katowice Katowice is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, on the Klodnica and Rawa river rivers . Katowice is located in the Silesian Highlands, about 50 km from the Silesian Beskids and about 100 km from Sudetes.... (USMU Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union, USMU also known under official name: Metropolitan Association of Upper Silesia, MAUS is a Political union of 14 adjacent city in the Silesian Voivodeship, Poland.... )		3,320,000	4,400	0.11
10	Warsaw Warsaw Warsaw is the Capital and World's largest cities of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River roughly from both the Baltic Sea coast and the Carpathian Mountains....		3,070,000	4,700	0.67
11	Naples Naples Naples is a city in southern Italy, the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples. The city is known for its rich history, art, culture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,800 years old....		2,970,000	3,850	-0.13
12	Rome Rome Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....		2,720,000	3,200	-0.16
13	Frankfurt Frankfurt is the largest city in the German States of Germany of Hesse and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants in Germany, with a 2008 population of 670,000....		2,340,000	3,350	0.50
14	Lisbon Lisbon Lisbon is the Capital and largest city of Portugal. It is also the seat of the Lisbon and capital of the Lisbon region. Its municipalities of Portugal, which matches the city proper excluding the larger continuous conurbation, has a municipal population of 564,477 in , while the Lisbon Metropolitan Area in total has around 2.8 million inha...		2,310,000	2,550	0.39
15	Birmingham Birmingham Birmingham is a city status in the United Kingdom and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. Birmingham is the most populous of England's English Core Cities Group, and is the List of United Kingdom cities by population British city after London, with a population of 1,010,200 ....		2,280,000	3,800	-0.03
16	Manchester Manchester Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. Manchester was granted City status in the United Kingdom in 1853....		2,240,000	4,000	-0.03
17	Rotterdam Rotterdam Rotterdam ; city and municipality in the Netherlands province of South Holland, situated in the west of the Netherlands. The municipality is the List of cities in the Netherlands with over 100,000 people in the country, with a population of 584,046 on 1 January 2007 and comprises the southern part of the Randstad, the List of metropolitan are... -The Hague The Hague The Hague is the third largest city in the Netherlands after Amsterdam and Rotterdam, with a population of 475,904 and an area of approximately 100 km?....		2,100,000	2,450	0.39
18	Budapest Budapest Budapest is the Capitals of Hungary of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it serves as the country's principal political, cultural, commerce, Industry, and transportation center and is considered an important hub in Central Europe....		2,090,000	2,350	-0.19
19	Cologne Cologne Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.... -Bonn Bonn Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located about 20 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the Capital of Germany West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....		2,030,000	2,100	0.50
20	Bucharest Bucharest Bucharest is the capital city, industrial and commercial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the D?mbovita River....		2,000,000 (2003)	7,000	0.10
21	Hamburg Hamburg Hamburg is the second-largest city in Germany , and is the Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits. The city is home to approximately 1.8 million people, while the Hamburg metropolitan area has more than 4.3 million inhabitants....		1,925,000 (2001)	2,700	0.43
22	Munich Munich Munich is the capital city of Bavaria, Germany. Munich is located on the River Isar north of the Northern Limestone Alps. Munich is the third largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg....		1,675,000 (2001)	3,600	0.72
23	Brussels Brussels Brussels , officially the Brussels Capital-Region, is the de facto capital city of the European Union and the largest urban area in Belgium....		1,625,000 (2005)	2,150	0.02
24	Vienna Vienna Vienna is the Capital of Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million...		1,550,000 (2001)	3,400	1.04
25	Copenhagen Copenhagen Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban area with a population of 1,153,615 . Copenhagen is situated on the Islands of Zealand and Amager....		1,525,000 (2003)	2,350	0.04
26	Leeds Leeds Leeds is located on the River Aire in West Yorkshire, England. It is the urban core and administrative centre of the wider metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds.... -Bradford Bradford Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield....		1,499,000 (2001)	4,050	0.24
27	Stockholm Stockholm is the capital and largest city of Sweden. It is the site of the national Swedish Government of Sweden, the Parliament of Sweden, and the official residence of the Swedish Monarchy of Sweden....		1,400,000 (2000)	2,700	0.58
28	Marseille Marseille "Marseille" is the second-largest city of France and forms the third-largest aire urbaine, after those of Paris and Lyon, with a population recorded to be 1,516,340 at the 1999 census and estimated to be 1,605,000 in 2007.... --Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence Aix or Aix-en-Provence , to distinguish it from other cities built over hot springs, is a communes of France in southern France, some north of Marseille....		1,350,000 (1999)	1,100	0.46
29	Turin Turín Tur?n is a municipality in the Ahuachap?n Department Departments of El Salvador of El Salvador....		1,350,000 (2000)	2,750	-0.16
30	Lyon Lyon \|\|-\|\|}Lyon, also known as Lyons in English, is a city in east-central France. Its name is pronounced in French language and Franco-Proven?al language, and or in English language....		1,349,000 (1999)	1,400	0.50
31	Stuttgart Stuttgart Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-W?rttemberg in southern Germany. The list of cities in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 590,429 while the metropolitan area referred to as Stuttgart Region has a population of 2.7 million ....		1,250,000 (2001)	3,000
32	Dublin Dublin Dublin is both the largest city and capital of Republic of Ireland. It is located near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the centre of the Dublin Region....		1,230,000 (2006)	2,800	1.14
33	Prague Prague Prague is the Capital and World's largest cities of the Czech Republic. Its official name is Hlavn? mesto Praha, meaning Prague, the Capital City....		1,200,000 (2003)	4,200	-0.07
34	Glasgow Glasgow Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and List of largest United Kingdom settlements by population in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's Scottish Lowlands....		1,200,000 (2001)	3,250	0.07
35	Valencia		1,175,000 (2001)	4,300	0.29
36	Amsterdam Amsterdam Amsterdam is the Capital of the Netherlands and List of cities in the Netherlands with over 100,000 people of the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands of North Holland in the west of the country....		1,100,000 (2005)	2,650	0.41
37	Helsinki Helsinki Helsinki is the Capital and largest List of cities and towns in Finland of Finland. It is in the southern part of Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, by the Baltic Sea....		1,100,000 (2000)	2,250	0.81
38	Lille Lille Lille is a city in northern France. It is the principal city of the Urban Community of Lille M?tropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille.... --Kortrijk Kortrijk Kortrijk is a Belgium city and Municipalities in Belgium located in the Flemish Region Provinces of Belgium West Flanders. The wider municipality comprises the city of Kortrijk proper and the towns of Aalbeke, Bellegem, Bissegem, Heule, Kooigem, Marke , and Rollegem....	,	1,050,000 (1999)	2,200	0.50
39	Sofia Sofia Sofia , is the Capital and largest city of the Bulgaria, with 2,5 million people living in the Capital Municipality. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of the mountain massif Vitosha, and is the administrative, cultural, economic, and educational centre of the country....		1,050,000 (2001)	5,050	0.78
40	Porto Porto Porto , also Oporto in English, is Portugal's second city and capital of the Norte, Portugal NUTS II region. The city is located in the estuary of the Douro river in northern Portugal....		1,035,000 (2001)	2,650	1.05
41	Nuremberg Nuremberg Nuremberg is a city in the Germany State of Bavaria, in the Regierungsbezirk of Middle Franconia. It is situated on the Pegnitz River river and the Rhine?Main?Danube Canal and is Franconia's largest city....		1,020,000 (2001)	3,050
42	Lodz Lódz L?dz is the third-largest city in Poland. Located in the central part of the country, it had a population of 753,192 in 2007. It is the capital of L?dz Voivodeship, and is approximately south-west of Warsaw....		950,000 (2002)	5,250	-0.67
43	Antwerp Antwerp \|\|-\|\|-\|\|-\|\|}Antwerp is a city and municipality in Belgium and the capital of the Antwerp in Flanders, one of Belgium's three regions....		915,000 (2003)	1,400	0.05
44	Nice Nice Nice is a city in Southern France France located on the Mediterranean Sea coast, between Marseille, France, and Genoa, Italy, with 1,197,751 inhabitants in the 2007 estimate....		889,000 (1999)	1,250	0.52
45	Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne is a City status in the United Kingdom and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Situated on the north bank of the River Tyne, the city developed from a Roman Empire settlement called Pons Aelius, though it owes its name to the Newcastle Castle built in 1080, by Robert Curthose, the eldest son of...		880,000 (2001)	4,150	0.16
46	Liverpool Liverpool Liverpool [] is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a History of borough status in England and Wales in 1207 and was granted City status in the United Kingdom in 1880....		816,000 (2001)	4,400	0.11
47	Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki , Thessalonica, or Salonica is the List of largest cities and second largest cities by country in Greece and the capital of Macedonia , the nation's largest Regions of Greece....		800,000 (2001)	4,100	0.39
48	Gdansk Gdansk Gdansk is the city at the centre of the fourth-largest metropolitan area in Poland. It is Poland's principal seaport as well as the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship....		775,000 (2002)	5,000
49	Toulouse Toulouse Toulouse is a commune of France in southwest France on the banks of the Garonne, half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea....		761,000 (1999)	950	0.72
50	Bordeaux Bordeaux is a Port city on the Garonne in southwest France, with one million inhabitants in its aire urbaine at a 2008 estimate. It is the Capital of the Aquitaine regions of France, as well as the Prefectures in France of the Gironde Departments of France....		754,000 (1999)	700	0.60
51	Florence Florence Florence is the Capital city of the Italy Regions of Italy of Tuscany and of the provinces of Italy Province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany and has a population of 364,779 ....		750,000 (2001)	2,750
52	Palermo Palermo Palermo is a historic city in southern Italy, the Capital of the autonomous region Sicily and the province of Palermo. The city is noted for its rich history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old....		750,000 (2001)	5,150	0.12
53	Riga Riga Riga the Capital of Latvia, is situated on the Baltic Sea coast on the mouth of the river Daugava River. Riga is the largest city in the Baltic states....		750,000 (2005)	2,900
54	Bilbao Bilbao Bilbao, is the largest city in the Basque Country in northern Spain and the capital of the province of Biscay .The city has 354,145 inhabitants and is the most financially and industrially active part of Greater Bilbao, the zone in which almost half of the Basque Country?s population lives....		750,000 (2001)	5,800
55	Seville Seville \|\|-\|\|}Seville is the artistic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of Andalusia and of the province of Seville ....		750,000 (2001)	5,550

EFTA countries

Two European Free Trade Association

European Free Trade Association

The European Free Trade Association was established on 3 May 1960 as a trade bloc-alternative for European states who were either unable to, or chose not to, join the then-European Economic Community ....
countries have urban areas that would be included in the list if they were EU member states.

Urban Area	State	Population	Density (per km²)	Growth rate (%)
Zürich Zürich Z?rich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Z?rich. The city is Switzerland's main commercial and cultural centre and sometimes called the Cultural Capital of Switzerland, the political capital of Switzerland being Berne....		830,000 (2003)	3,650	0.35
Oslo Oslo is the Capital and largest List of cities in Norway in Norway.Metropolitan Oslo or the Greater Oslo Region makes up the third largest urban area in Scandinavia after Metropolitan Stockholm and Metropolitan Copenhagen....		800,000 (2004)	2,450	0.99

External links

(as tabulated by INSEE).
for UK urban areas

Largest urban areas of the European Union

Important notes

Urban areas over 750,000 inhabitants

EFTA countries

See also

External links