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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 2014. The data comes from Demographia and the United Nations Department of
Economic and Social Affairs.[1][2][3] Demographia provides figures for urban areas (including conurbations),[2] while the UN DESA figures are for agglomerations only.[3] For
comparison, Function Urban Area (FUA) population figures by Eurostat are also provided, however, these measure the wider metropolitan areas.

Contents
Important notes
Urban areas over 500,000 inhabitants (2015-2017)
Top 20 urban areas by population
See also
References
External links

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 London is
sometimes listed with 14 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, please 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 and London 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 (2015-2017)

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Population Population FUA population Density Annual growth

Rank Urban area Image State (urban areas; (agglomerations; (metropolitan areas; (per km2; rate (%;
Demographia)[2] UN WUP)[3] Eurostat)[1] Demographia) Demographia)

1 Paris France 10,950,000 10,843,285 11,800,000 3,800 0.83

United
2 London 10,470,000 10,313,307 12,200,000 5,900 0.07
Kingdom

3 Ruhr 6,670,000 N/A 11,300,000 2,800 0.01

Germany

4 Madrid Spain 6,310,000 6,229,254 6,600,000 4,600 0.27

5 Milan Italy 5,280,000 3,098,974 n/a 2,800 −0.16

6 Barcelona Spain 4,790,000 5,258,319 n/a 4,300 0.12

7 Berlin 4,105,000 6,563,194 n/a 2,900 0.01

Germany

8 Rome Italy 3,950,000 3,717,956 n/a 3,400 0.89

9 Naples Italy 3,700,000 2,201,789 n/a 3,600 0.01

10 Athens Greece 3,475,000 3,051,899 n/a 5,000 0.29

11 Lisbon 2,700,000 2,884,297 n/a 2,800 0.39

Portugal

United
12 Manchester 2,685,000 2,645,598 n/a 4,200 −0.03
Kingdom

Rotterdam–The
13 2,670,000 N/A n/a 2,700 0.39
Hague Netherlands

Birmingham
United
14 (West 2,550,000 2,514,596 n/a 4,200 −0.03
Kingdom
Midlands)

15 Budapest 2,500,000 1,713,903 n/a 1,900 −0.19

Hungary

16 Warsaw Poland 2,280,000 1,722,310 n/a 3,200 0.67

Katowice
17 (Katowice Poland 2,175,000 n/a 2,573,159 3,300 0.11
urban area)

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Population Population FUA population Density Annual growth

Rank Urban area Image State (urban areas; (agglomerations; (metropolitan areas; (per km2; rate (%;
Demographia)[2] UN WUP)[3] Eurostat)[1] Demographia) Demographia)

18 Cologne-Bonn 2,165,000 N/A n/a 2,300 0.50

Germany

19 Brussels 2,120,000 2,044,993 n/a 2,600 0.02[4]

Belgium

20 Bucharest 2,115,000 1,867,724 n/a 6,500 0.10[4]

Romania

21 Hamburg 2,105,000 1,830,673 n/a 2,700 0.43[4]

Germany

22 Munich 2,025,000 1,437,900 n/a 4,200 0.72[4]

Germany

United
23 Leeds-Bradford 1,955,000 1,912,493 n/a 3,900 0.24[4]
Kingdom

24 Frankfurt 1,950,000 n/a n/a 3,000 0.50

Germany

25 Vienna Austria 1,785,000 1,752,845 n/a 3,900 1.04[4]

26 Amsterdam 1,650,000 1,090,772 n/a 3,200 0.41[4]

Netherlands

27 Lyon France 1,650,000 1,608,712 n/a 1,300 0.50[4]

28 Marseille France 1,620,000 1,605,046 n/a 3,100 0.46[4]

29 Valencia Spain 1,585,000 n/a 5,700 0.29[4]

30 Stockholm 1,565,000 1,485,680 n/a 4,300 0.58[4]

Sweden

31 Turin Italy 1,530,000 1,764,868 n/a 4,100 −0.16[4]

32 Porto 1,485,000 1,299,437 n/a 1,900

Portugal

33 Stuttgart 1,395,000 n/a 2,900

Germany

Czech
34 Prague 1,390,000 1,313,557 n/a 4,600 −0.07[4]
Republic

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Population Population FUA population Density Annual growth

Rank Urban area Image State (urban areas; (agglomerations; (metropolitan areas; (per km2; rate (%;
Demographia)[2] UN WUP)[3] Eurostat)[1] Demographia) Demographia)

35 Sofia 1,325,000 1,226,155 1,543,377 5,700 0.78[4]

Bulgaria

36 Copenhagen 1,290,000 1,268,052 1,900,000 2,700 0.04[4]

Denmark

United
37 Glasgow 1,235,000 1,222,955 n/a 3,300 0.07[4]
Kingdom

38 Helsinki Finland 1,230,000 1,179,916 n/a 2,400 0.81[4]

39 Dublin Ireland 1,158,000 1,169,371 n/a 2,500 1.14[4]

40 Sevilla Spain 1,110,000 n/a 5,600

France,
41 Lille 1,065,000 1,027,178 n/a 2,200 0.50[4]
Belgium

42 Antwerpen 1,015,000 n/a 1,500 0.05[4]

Belgium

43 Nice France 975,000 n/a 1,300 0.52[4]

44 Toulouse France 965,000 n/a 1,100 0.72[4]

45 Bordeaux France 960,000 n/a 700 0.60[4]

46 Nantes France 900,000 n/a 1,100

South United
47 895,000 n/a
Hampshire Kingdom

United
48 Liverpool 880,000 n/a 4,400 0.11[4]
Kingdom

49 Bergamo Italy 860,000 n/a 3,300

Gdańsk
50 Poland 855,000 n/a 5,000
(Tricity)

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Population Population FUA population Density Annual growth

Rank Urban area Image State (urban areas; (agglomerations; (metropolitan areas; (per km2; rate (%;
Demographia)[2] UN WUP)[3] Eurostat)[1] Demographia) Demographia)

51 Florence Italy 835,000 n/a 3,700

52 Thessaloniki Greece 825,000 n/a 4,300 0.39[4]

Newcastle
United
53 upon Tyne 800,000 n/a 4,200 0.16[4]
Kingdom
(Tyneside)

54 Bilbao Spain 780,000 n/a 5,800

United
55 Nottingham 765,000 n/a 4,200
Kingdom

56 Kraków Poland 760,000 n/a 3,500

57 Dresden 740,000 n/a 2,200

Germany

58 Zaragoza Spain 735,000 n/a 5,700

59 Catania Italy 730,000 n/a 2,900

60 Palermo Italy 730,000 n/a 6,000 0.12[4]

61 Málaga Spain 725,000 n/a 3,600

62 Hannover 715,000 n/a 2,500

Germany

United
63 Sheffield 715,000 n/a 4,000
Kingdom

64 Zagreb Croatia 705,000 n/a 4,400

65 Łódź Poland 690,000 n/a 5,000 −0.67[4]

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Population Population FUA population Density Annual growth

Rank Urban area Image State (urban areas; (agglomerations; (metropolitan areas; (per km2; rate (%;
Demographia)[2] UN WUP)[3] Eurostat)[1] Demographia) Demographia)

66 Utrecht 690,000 n/a 3,900

Netherlands

67 Las Palmas Spain 675,000 n/a 6,800

68 Nuremberg 675,000 n/a 3,000

Germany

United
69 Bristol 660,000 n/a 3,900
Kingdom

70 Bremen 635,000 n/a 2,400

Germany

71 Wrocław Poland 620,000 n/a 4,800

72 Genova Italy 615,000 1,500,000 n/a 7,900

United
73 Belfast 615,000 n/a 3,500
Kingdom

74 Padua Italy 610,000 n/a 3,200

75 Leipzig 605,000 n/a 2,000

Germany

76 Riga Latvia 605,000 n/a 2,900

77 Gothenburg 590,000 n/a 2,700

Sweden

78 Toulon France 585,000 n/a 700

79 Mannheim 565,000 n/a 3,500

Germany

80 Liège 560,000 n/a 1,900

Belgium

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Population Population FUA population Density Annual growth

Rank Urban area Image State (urban areas; (agglomerations; (metropolitan areas; (per km2; rate (%;
Demographia)[2] UN WUP)[3] Eurostat)[1] Demographia) Demographia)

81 Palma, Majorca Spain 550,000

82 Vilnius 550,000 649,000 n/a 2,500

Lithuania

Santa Cruz de Spain

83 545,000
Tenerife

84 Aachen 545,000 n/a 1,500

Germany

United
85 Leicester 545,000 n/a
Kingdom

86 Poznań Poland 535,000 n/a 2,700

87 Bologna Italy 530,000 n/a 3,400

88 Murcia Spain 515,000

89 Grenoble France 515,000 n/a 985

90 Saarbrücken 510,000 n/a 2,200

Germany

91 Douai-Lens France 510,000 n/a 1,100

United
92 Edinburgh 500,000
Kingdom

Top 20 urban areas by population

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Manchester
(12)
Rotterdam -
The Hague
Birmingham (13) Warsaw (16)
(14) Berlin (7)
London (2) Ruhr (3)
Brussels Cologne- Katowice
(19) Bonn (18) (17)

Paris (1)
Budapest
(15)

Milan (5) Bucharest

(20)

Barcelona Rome (8)

Madrid (4)
Lisbon (11) (6) Naples (9)

Athens (10)

Location of the top 20 urban areas by population in the European Union.

See also
List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits
List of larger urban zones (metropolitan area)
List of urban areas in Europe
List of urban areas by population
Blue Banana

References
1. Eurostat: Statistics on European cities (http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Statistics_on_European_cities). Retrieved 19 September 2016.
2. Demographia: World Urban Areas (http://www.demographia.com/db-worldua.pdf). Retrieved 12 July 2017.
3. Annual Population of Urban Agglomerations with 300,000 Inhabitants or More in 2014, by Country, 1950-2030 (thousands), World Urbanization Prospects, the 2014 revision (h
ttp://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/CD-ROM/), Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Retrieved 6 September 2015. Note: List based on
estimates for 2015, from 2014.
4. United Nations: World Urbanization Prospects (http://esa.un.org/unup/p2k0data.asp) Archived (https://archive.is/20070310023047/http://esa.un.org/unup/p2k0data.asp) 2007-
03-10 at Archive.is

External links
United Nations list of urban agglomerations in the European Union (http://www.insee.fr/fr/themes/tableau.asp?reg_id=98&ref_id=CMPTEF01113) (as tabulated by INSEE).
Population of urban areas provided by UK National Statistics (https://web.archive.org/web/20050311050212/http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=8271&M
ore=Y) for UK urban areas
e-Geopolis (http://www.e-geopolis.eu): research group, university of Paris-Diderot, France - About world urbanization

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