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. Demographia provides figures for urban areas (including conurbations), while the UN DESA figures are a mix agglomerations, cities proper and metropolitan areas. For comparison, Function Urban Area (FUA) population figures by Eurostat are also provided, 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.

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

Rank	Urban area	Image	State	Population (2023) (urban areas; Demographia)	ESPON Population (Functional Urban Area)	Population (UN)	FUA population (metropolitan areas; Eurostat)	Density (per km^2; Demographia)	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
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
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
18	Bucharest		Romania	2,097,000	2,064,000	1,821,000 (city proper)	2,412,530 (2015)	5,092	0.10
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
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
26	Turin		Italy	1,492,000	1,601,000	1,786,000 (metro)	1,712,372 (2022)	3,919	−0.16
27	Lyon		France	1,424,000	1,669,000	1,690,000 (agglomeration)	2,280,845 (2019)	3,089	0.50
28	Marseille		France	1,406,000	1,530,000	1,599,000 (agglomeration)	1,879,601 (2020)	2,041	0.46
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
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
33	Prague		Czech Republic	1,240,000	1,669,000	1,292,000 (city proper)	2,216,746 (2022)	4,023	−0.07
34	Helsinki		Finland	1,146,000	1,285,000	1,279,000 (agglomeration)	1,551,959 (2022)	2,223	0.81
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
37	Antwerp		Belgium	1,070,000	1,406,000	1,032,000 (metro)	1,157,068 (2022)	1,608	0.05
38	Toulouse		France	946,000	832,000	N/A	1,470,899 (2020)	1,864	0.72
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
42	Thessaloniki		Greece	844,000	1,052,000	N/A	973,997 (2011)	3,910	0.39
43	Bordeaux		France	827,000	918,000	N/A	1,376,375 (2020)	1,104	0.60
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
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)	FUA population (metropolitan areas; Eurostat)
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

Paris

Ruhr

Madrid

Milan

Barcelona

Berlin

Naples

Athens

Rome

Rotterdam–The Hague

Lisbon

Budapest

Brussels

Cologne–Bonn

Stockholm

Munich

Hamburg

Frankfurt

Warsaw

Katowice

Vienna

Bucharest

Amsterdam

Copenhagen

Turin

Lyon

Valencia

Dublin

Marseille

Stuttgart

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Location of the top 30 urban areas by population in the European Union.

See also

• European Union portal

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

References

1. "Demographia" (PDF), www.demographia.com
2. UN's report on The World’s Cities in 2018
3. Population on 1 January by age groups and sex - functional urban areas. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
4. "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. 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

• United Nations list of urban agglomerations in the European Union (as tabulated by INSEE).
• Population of urban areas provided by UK National Statistics for UK urban areas
• e-Geopolis: research group, university of Paris-Diderot, France - About world urbanization