List of metropolitan areas in Europe
This list ranks metropolitan areas in Europe by their population according to three different sources; it includes metropolitan areas that have a population of over 1 million.
Sources
[edit]List includes metropolitan areas according only to the studies of ESPON, Eurostat, and OECD. For this reason some metropolitan areas, like the Italian Genoa Metropolitan Area (with a population of 1,510,781 as of 2010[1]) or the Ukrainian Kryvyi Rih metropolitan area (with a population of 1,170,953 as of 2019[2]), are not included in this list, with data by other statistic survey institutes.
Population figures correspond to the populations of Functional urban areas (FUA). The concept of a functional urban area defines a metropolitan area as a core urban area defined morphologically on the basis of population density, plus the surrounding labour pool defined on the basis of commuting. Figures in the first two population columns use a harmonised definition of a Functional urban area developed jointly in 2011, with delimitation basing on the DEGURBA method.[3][4]
Further information on how the areas are defined can be found in the source documents. These figures should be seen as an interpretation, not as conclusive fact.
Metropolitan areas
[edit] Areas within the European Union
| Metropolitan area name | Country | OECD (2020)[5] |
Eurostat[6] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amsterdam metropolitan area |  Netherlands
|
2,017,935 | 2,961,252 (2023) |
| Antwerp |  Belgium
|
1,860,869 | 1,183,670 (2024) |
| Athens metropolitan area |  Greece
|
3,618,860 | 3,828,434 (2011) |
| Barcelona metropolitan area |  Spain
|
5,345,763 | 5,156,444 (2023) |
| Baku[a] |  Azerbaijan
|
2,830,531 | — |
| Belgrade |  Serbia
|
1,612,587 | — |
| Berlin metropolitan area |  Germany
|
4,558,043 | 5,106,083 (2023) |
| Bilbao metropolitan area | Spain
|
957,261 | 1,044,944 (2023) |
| Bordeaux |  France
|
1,085,823 | 1,412,388 (2022) |
| Greater Bristol |  United Kingdom
|
1,274,128 | 955,541 (2018) |
| Brussels metropolitan area | Belgium
|
2,338,157 | 3,425,403 (2024) |
| Bucharest metropolitan area |  Romania
|
2,348,982 | 2,478,618 (2018) |
| Budapest metropolitan area |  Hungary
|
2,798,396 | 2,968,809 (2023) |
| Cardiff | United Kingdom
|
1,165,502 | 915,466 (2018) |
| Copenhagen metropolitan area |  Denmark
|
2,088,197 | 1,928,612 (2013) |
| Dnipro |  Ukraine
|
1,014,593 | — |
| Donetsk | Ukraine
|
1,450,194 | — |
| Dublin Metropolitan Area |  Ireland
|
1,721,812 | 1,793,902 (2011) |
| Frankfurt Rhine-Main | Germany
|
3,167,862 | 2,722,157 (2023) |
| Gdańsk (Tricity) |  Poland
|
987,006 | 1,223,884 (2021) |
| Greater Glasgow | United Kingdom
|
1,790,499 | 1,830,710 (2018) |
| Gothenburg |  Sweden
|
941,867 | 1,021,831 (2018) |
| The Hague | Netherlands
|
3,592,389[b] | 1,150,797 (2023) |
| Hamburg Metropolitan Region | Germany
|
2,763,491 | 3,493,121 (2023) |
| Hannover | Germany
|
1,156,114 | 1,310,004 (2023) |
| Helsinki Metropolitan Area |  Finland
|
1,439,175 | 1,750,158 (2024) |
| Istanbul[c] |  Turkey
|
14,693,269 | 11,044,642 (2004) |
| Katowice metropolitan area | Poland
|
2,843,725 | 2,417,386 (2021) |
| Kazan metropolitan area |  Russia
|
1,341,784 | — |
| Kharkiv | Ukraine
|
1,713,794 | — |
| Kraków metropolitan area | Poland
|
1,339,089 | 1,489,912 (2021) |
| Kyiv metropolitan area | Ukraine
|
3,545,076 | — |
| Lille | France
|
1,226,810 | 1,528,848 (2022) |
| Lisbon metropolitan area |  Portugal
|
2,731,340 | 3,115,288 (2024) |
| Łódź metropolitan area | Poland
|
1,041,339 | 893,083 (2021) |
| London metropolitan area | United Kingdom
|
13,475,297 | 12,434,823 (2018) |
| Lyon | France
|
2,090,206 | 2,327,861 (2022) |
| Madrid metropolitan area | Spain
|
6,989,714 | 6,982,656 (2022) |
| Málaga | Spain
|
1,048,764 | 903,175 (2023) |
| Greater Manchester | United Kingdom
|
3,374,693 | 3,348,274 (2018) |
| Mannheim-Ludwigshafen | Germany
|
1,755,988 | 1,334,633 (2022) |
| Marseille | France
|
1,322,989 | 1,900,957 (2023) |
| Liverpool City Region | United Kingdom
|
1,729,058 | 1,533,860 (2018) |
| Milan metropolitan area |  Italy
|
5,301,987 | 5,071,521 (2024) |
| Minsk metropolitan area |  Belarus
|
2,173,105 | — |
| Moscow metropolitan area | Russia
|
17,217,606 | — |
| Munich | Germany
|
2,618,482 | 3,066,200 (2023) |
| Nantes | France
|
946,441 | 1,041,894 (2022) |
| Naples metropolitan area | Italy
|
4,095,364 | 3,377,568 (2024) |
| Nice | France
|
1,143,557 | 634,940 (2022) |
| Nizhny Novgorod | Russia
|
1,430,212 | — |
| Nottingham-Derby | United Kingdom
|
1,618,393 | 1,406,315[d] (2018) |
| Northwest Metropolitan Region (Bremen) | Germany
|
912,616 | 1,058,197 (2023) |
| Nuremberg Metropolitan Region | Germany
|
1,307,726 | 1,197,848 (2023) |
| Odesa | Ukraine
|
1,273,381 | — |
| Greater Oslo Region |  Norway
|
1,422,223 | 1,278,827 (2013) |
| Paris metropolitan area | France
|
11,249,025 | 13,239,090 (2022) |
| Porto Metropolitan Area | Portugal
|
1,651,124 | 1,339,620 (2024) |
| Portsmouth-Southampton | United Kingdom
|
1,390,006 | 1,230,011[e] (2018) |
| Poznań metropolitan area | Poland
|
975,965 | 1,051,414 (2021) |
| Prague metropolitan area |  Czech Republic
|
1,977,776 | 2,216,746 (2022) |
| Rhein-Nord[f] (Düsseldorf - Neuss) | Germany
|
2,557,228[g] | 2,279,102[h] (2023) |
| Rhein-Süd[f] (Cologne - Bonn) | Germany
|
3,354,797 | 3,034,481[i] (2023) |
| Rome metropolitan area | Italy
|
3,684,930 | 4,383,028 (2024) |
| Rostov-on-Don | Russia
|
1,349,583 | — |
| Rotterdam | Netherlands
|
3,592,389[b] | 1,880,019 (2023) |
| Ruhr[f] | Germany
|
6,108,500 | 5,068,912 (2021) |
| Saint Petersburg metropolitan area | Russia
|
5,518,560 | — |
| Samara | Russia
|
1,307,406 | — |
| Saratov | Russia
|
1,097,493 | — |
| Seville metropolitan area | Spain
|
1,299,106 | 1,567,827 (2021) |
| Sofia |  Bulgaria
|
1,488,887 | 1,531,867 (2022) |
| South Yorkshire (Sheffield-Doncaster) | United Kingdom
|
1,166,720 | 1,189,393 (2018) |
| Metropolitan Stockholm | Sweden
|
2,241,651 | 2,308,143 (2018) |
| Stuttgart Metropolitan Region | Germany
|
2,300,011 | 2,558,400 (2023) |
| Tbilisi[a] |  Georgia
|
1,485,293 | — |
| Thessaloniki metropolitan area | Greece
|
1,011,795 | 973,997 (2011) |
| Toulouse | France
|
1,332,370 | 1,513,396 (2022) |
| Turin metropolitan area | Italy
|
1,828,088 | 1,776,003 (2023) |
| Tyne and Wear (Newcastle-Sunderland) | United Kingdom
|
1,719,730 | 1,175,274 (2018) |
| Ufa | Russia
|
1,149,103 | — |
| Valencia | Spain
|
1,916,932 | 1,811,626 (2023) |
| Vienna |  Austria
|
2,565,196 | — |
| Volgograd | Russia
|
1,402,254 | — |
| Voronezh | Russia
|
1,127,100 | — |
| Warsaw metropolitan area | Poland
|
2,975,932 | 3,374,742 (2021) |
| West Midlands conurbation (Birmingham) | United Kingdom
|
3,083,783 | 3,097,965 (2018) |
| West Yorkshire Built-up Area (Leeds - Bradford) | United Kingdom
|
3,010,473 | 2,619,128 (2018) |
| Yerevan[a] |  Armenia
|
1,232,670 | — |
| Zagreb metropolitan area |  Croatia
|
1,008,763 | 1,161,259 (2022) |
| Zürich metropolitan area |  Switzerland
|
2,124,246 | 1,951,341 (2022) |
Polycentric metropolitan areas in the European Union
[edit]| Rank | Area | State | Population[7] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region | Germany
|
12,190,000 |
| 2 | Randstad | Netherlands
|
6,787,000 |
| 3 | Katowice-Ostrava metropolitan area | Poland/ Czech Republic
|
5,294,000 |
| 4 | Flemish Diamond | Belgium
|
5,103,000 |
| 5 | Vienna-Bratislava metropolitan region | Austria/  Slovakia
|
4,600,000 |
See also
[edit]- List of European cities by population within city limits
- List of urban areas in Europe
- List of European city regions
- Lists of cities in Europe
- List of largest cities in the European Union by population within city limits
- List of urban areas in the European Union
- List of European Union cities proper by population density
- List of metropolitan areas by population for the world
- World's largest cities
Regional and country-specific lists
[edit]- Largest metropolitan areas in the Nordic countries
- List of metropolitan areas in Belgium
- List of metropolitan areas in France
- List of metropolitan areas in Germany
- List of metropolitan areas in Italy
- List of metropolitan areas in Poland
- List of metropolitan areas in Romania
- List of metropolitan areas in Spain
- List of metropolitan areas in Sweden
- List of metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom
Notes
[edit]- ^ a b c Continental placement may vary depending on geographic convention being followed.
- ^ a b Combined total population of Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan area.
- ^ 65% of the population lives on the European part
- ^ Lists Nottingham (919,484) and Derby (486,831) as two separate metropolitan areas.
- ^ Lists Portsmouth (542,040) and Southampton (687,971) as two separate metropolitan areas.
- ^ a b c Polycentric metropolitan area
- ^ Lists Düsseldorf (1,087,466), Wuppertal (872,475), and Mönchengladbach (597,287) as three separate metropolitan areas.
- ^ Lists Düsseldorf (1,482,443), Wuppertal (387,599), and Mönchengladbach (409,060) as three separate metropolitan areas.
- ^ Lists Cologne (2,234,016) and Bonn (800,465) as two separate metropolitan areas.
References
[edit]- ^ "Urbanismi, Cluster urbani e aree metropolitane – volume primo, Italia" (PDF) (in Italian). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 23 February 2013.
- ^ "Чисельність наявного населення України на 1 січня 2019" (PDF).(in Ukrainian)
- ^ Lewis Dijkstra, Hugo Poelman (2012-03-01). Cities in Europe - The new OECD-EC definition (PDF) (Report). p. 2. Retrieved 2024-06-08.
Until recently, there was no harmonised definition of 'a city' for European and other countries member of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This undermined the comparability, and thus also the credibility, of cross-country analysis of cities. To resolve this problem, the OECD and the European Commission developed a new definition of a city and its commuting zone in 2011. […] Each city is part of its own commuting zone or a polycentric commuting zone covering multiple cities. These commuting zones are significant, especially for larger cities. The cities and commuting zones together (called Larger Urban Zones) account for 60 % of the EU population.
- ^ "Territorial typologies manual - cities, commuting zones and functional urban areas". Eurostat.
Within the Urban Audit, (...) functional urban areas were previously referred to as 'larger urban zones'.
- ^ "OECD: FUAs and Cities". OECD. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
- ^ "Database". ec.europa.eu. Eurostat. Retrieved 3 November 2025. Population on 1 January by age groups and sex - functional urban areas (urb_lpop1)
- ^ European Spatial Planning Observation Network, Study on Urban Functions (Project 1.4.3) Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine, Final Report, Chapter 3, (ESPON, 2007) page 241-243
External links
[edit]- Geopolis: research group, university of Paris-Diderot, France - Population of urban areas of 10,000 or more
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|---|---|
| Metropolitan area | |
| Urban area/agglomeration | |
| Historical | |
| Related articles | |
