List of metropolitan areas in Europe

This is a list of metropolitan areas. For a list of urban areas, see List of urban areas in Europe. For a list of cities proper, see List of European cities by population within city limits. For a list of European cities by country, see List of cities 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.

Moscow, the capital of Russia, has the most populous metropolitan area in Europe.

Europe and some parts of Africa and Asia by night. Lights reveal the urbanized areas of Europe. It also shows the Blue Banana megalopolis from north-west England to northern Italy, and the Golden Banana urbanized area between Genoa and Valencia.

Sources

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.

Figures in the first three columns correspond to 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 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

  Areas within the European Union

Metropolitan area name	Country	OECD (2020)[5]	Eurostat[6]	ESPON (2006)[7]
Amsterdam metropolitan area	Netherlands	2,017,935	2,915,114 (2022)	2,497,000[a]
Antwerp	Belgium	1,860,869	1,157,068 (2021)	1,406,000[b]
Athens metropolitan area	Greece	3,618,860	3,828,434 (2011)	3,761,000
Barcelona metropolitan area	Spain	5,345,763	5,093,585 (2022)	4,082,000[c]
Belgrade	Serbia	1,612,587	—	—
Berlin metropolitan area	Germany	4,558,043	4,979,867 (2021)	4,016,000
Bilbao metropolitan area	Spain	957,261	1,041,059 (2022)	947,000
Bordeaux	France	1,085,823	1,376,375 (2020)	918,000
Greater Bristol	United Kingdom	1,274,128	955,541 (2018)	1,041,000
Brussels metropolitan area	Belgium	2,338,157	3,350,969 (2022)	2,639,000[b]
Bucharest metropolitan area	Romania	2,348,982	2,478,618 (2018)	2,064,000
Budapest metropolitan area	Hungary	2,798,396	3,001,643 (2022)	2,523,000
Cardiff	United Kingdom	1,165,502	915,466 (2018)	1,097,000
Copenhagen metropolitan area	Denmark	2,088,197	1,928,612 (2013)	1,881,000[d]
Dnipro	Ukraine	1,014,593	—	—
Donetsk	Ukraine	1,450,194	—	—
Dublin Metropolitan Area	Ireland	1,721,812	1,793,902 (2011)	1,477,000
Frankfurt Rhine-Main	Germany	3,167,862	2,678,557 (2021)	2,764,000[e]
Gdańsk (Tricity)	Poland	987,006	1,223,884 (2021)	993,000
Greater Glasgow	United Kingdom	1,790,499	1,830,710 (2018)	1,395,000
Gothenburg	Sweden	941,867	1,021,831 (2018)	759,000
The Hague	Netherlands	3,592,389[f]	1,132,975 (2021)	1,404,000[a]
Hamburg Metropolitan Region	Germany	2,763,491	3,421,692 (2021)	2,983,000
Hannover	Germany	1,156,114	1,289,320 (2021)	997,000[g]
Helsinki Metropolitan Area	Finland	1,439,175	1,551,959 (2022)	1,285,000
Istanbul[h]	Turkey	14,693,269	11,044,642 (2004)	—
Katowice metropolitan area	Poland	2,843,725	2,417,386 (2021)	3,029,000[i]
Kazan metropolitan area	Russia	1,341,784	—	—
Kharkiv	Ukraine	1,713,794	—	—
Kraków metropolitan area	Poland	1,339,089	1,489,912 (2021)	1,236,000
Kyiv metropolitan area	Ukraine	3,545,076	—	—
Lille	France	1,226,810	1,515,061 (2020)	1,161,000[j]
Lisbon metropolitan area	Portugal	2,731,340	3,049,222 (2023)	2,591,000
Łódź metropolitan area	Poland	1,041,339	893,083 (2021)	1,165,000
London metropolitan area	United Kingdom	13,475,297	12,434,823 (2018)	11,203,000
Lyon	France	2,090,206	2,293,180 (2020)	1,669,000
Madrid metropolitan area	Spain	6,989,714	6,982,656 (2022)	5,263,000
Málaga-Marbella	Spain	1,288,693[k]	1,230,313[l] (2022)	775,000[m]
Greater Manchester	United Kingdom	3,374,693	3,348,274 (2018)	2,556,000
Mannheim-Ludwigshafen	Germany	1,755,988	1,318,805 (2021)	1,136,000[n]
Marseille	France	1,322,989[o]	1,879,601 (2020)	1,530,000
Merseyside (Liverpool/Birkenhead)	United Kingdom	1,729,058	1,533,860 (2018)	2,241,000
Milan metropolitan area	Italy	5,301,987	4,934,205 (2022)	4,136,000[p]
Minsk metropolitan area	Belarus	2,173,105	—	—
Moscow metropolitan area	Russia	17,217,606	—	—
Munich	Germany	2,618,482	3,016,834 (2021)	2,665,000[q]
Nantes	France	946,441	1,022,775 (2020)	708,000
Naples metropolitan area	Italy	4,095,364	3,303,711 (2022)	2,905,000[r]
Nice	France	1,143,557	618,489 (2020)	1,082,000
Nizhny Novgorod	Russia	1,430,212	—	—
Nottingham-Derby	United Kingdom	1,618,393	1,406,315[s] (2018)	1,534,000
Northwest Metropolitan Region (Bremen)	Germany	912,616	1,046,897 (2021)	1,077,000
Nuremberg Metropolitan Region	Germany	1,307,726	1,181,541 (2021)	1,443,000
Odesa	Ukraine	1,273,381	—	—
Greater Oslo Region	Norway	1,422,223	1,278,827 (2013)	1,037,000
Ostrava metropolitan area	Czech Republic	751,133[t]	695,244 (2022)	1,046,000[i]
Paris metropolitan area	France	11,249,025	13,125,142 (2020)	11,175,000
Porto Metropolitan Area	Portugal	1,651,124	1,316,989 (2023)	1,245,000[u]
Portsmouth-Southampton	United Kingdom	1,390,006	1,230,011[v] (2018)	1,547,000
Poznań metropolitan area	Poland	975,965	1,051,414 (2021)	919,000
Prague metropolitan area	Czech Republic	1,977,776	2,216,746 (2022)	1,669,000
Rhein-Nord[w] (Düsseldorf - Neuss)	Germany	2,557,228[x]	2,247,629[y] (2021)	3,073,000[z][aa]
Rhein-Süd[w] (Cologne - Bonn)	Germany	3,354,797	3,005,728[ab] (2021)	3,070,000[aa]
Riga metropolitan area	Latvia	762,194	917,351 (2022)	1,195,000
Rome metropolitan area	Italy	3,684,930	4,291,581 (2022)	5,190,000
Rostov-on-Don	Russia	1,349,583	—	—
Rotterdam	Netherlands	3,592,389[f]	1,902,704 (2022)	1,904,000[a]
Ruhr[w]	Germany	6,108,500	5,068,912 (2021)	5,376,000[ac][aa]
Saarbrücken - Forbach	Germany/  France	582,231[ad]	522,983[ad] (2021)	1,102,000
Saint Petersburg metropolitan area	Russia	5,518,560	—	—
Samara	Russia	1,307,406	—	—
Saratov	Russia	1,097,493	—	—
Seville	Spain	1,299,106	1,556,975 (2021)	1,180,000[ae]
Sofia	Bulgaria	1,488,887	1,531,867 (2022)	1,174,000
South Yorkshire (Sheffield-Doncaster)	United Kingdom	1,166,720	1,189,393 (2018)	1,869,000
Metropolitan Stockholm	Sweden	2,241,651	2,308,143 (2018)	2,171,000
Stuttgart Metropolitan Region	Germany	2,300,011	2,531,040 (2021)	2,289,000
Tbilisi[af]	Georgia	1,042,204	—	—
Thessaloniki metropolitan area	Greece	1,011,795	973,997 (2011)	1,052,000
Toulouse	France	1,332,370	1,470,899 (2020)	832,000
Turin metropolitan area	Italy	1,828,088	1,712,372 (2022)	1,601,000[ag]
Tyne and Wear (Newcastle-Sunderland)	United Kingdom	1,719,730	1,175,274 (2018)	1,599,000
Ufa	Russia	1,149,103	—	—
Valencia	Spain	1,916,932	1,775,845 (2022)	1,398,000[ah]
Vienna	Austria	2,565,196	—	2,584,000
Volgograd	Russia	1,402,254	—	—
Voronezh	Russia	1,127,100	—	—
Warsaw metropolitan area	Poland	2,975,932	3,374,742 (2021)	2,785,000
West Midlands conurbation (Birmingham)	United Kingdom	3,083,783	3,097,965 (2018)	3,683,000
West Yorkshire Built-up Area (Leeds - Bradford)	United Kingdom	3,010,473	2,619,128 (2018)	2,302,000
Yerevan[af]	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)	1,615,000

Polycentric metropolitan areas in the European Union

Rank	Area	State	Population[8]
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

• 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

• 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

1. Part of the Randstad polycentric urban region consisting of the metropolitan areas of Amsterdam (2,497,000), Rotterdam (1,904,000), The Hague (1,404,000), and Utrecht (982,000). The total population of the region is 6,787,000.
2. The Flemish Diamond metropolitan region, which consists of the metropolitan areas of Brussels, Antwerp, Gent, and Leuven, has a total population of 5,103,000.
3. Total population is 4,251,000 if the metropolitan area of Mataro (169,000) is included.
4. Part of the wider Öresund region, which includes the Danish metropolitan area of Copenhagen (1,881,000) and the Swedish metropolitan areas of Malmö (667,000) and Helsingborg (294,000). The total regional population is 2,842,000.
5. Part of the Rhein-Main metropolitan region with a total population of 4,149,000, which additionally includes the metropolitan areas of Darmstadt (501,000), Wiesbaden (453,000), and Mainz (431,000).
6. Combined total population of Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan area.
7. Estmation.
8. 65% of the population lives on the European part
9. Part of the polycentric Katowice-Ostrava metropolitan area with a total population of 5,294,000. The region includes the metropolitan areas of Katowice (3,029,000) Ostrava (1,046,000), Bielsko-Biała (584,000), Rybnik (526,000) and Racibórz (109,000).
10. Part of the wider Lille-Bassin Minier region with a total population of 3,115,000.
11. Lists Málaga (1,048,764) and Marbella (239,929) as two separate metropolitan areas.
12. Lists Málaga (887,146) and Marbella (343,167) as two separate metropolitan areas.
13. Total population is 844,000 if the metropolitan area of Vélez-Málaga (69,000) is included.
14. Lists Mannheim (683,000) and Ludwigshafen (453,000) as two of eight FUAs within the Rhein-Neckar poly-FUA (2,931,000).
15. Does not include Aix-en-Provence, which OECD, unlike INSEE, considers as a separate metropolitan area, with a population of 243,615 in 2020.
16. Part of a wider Milan polycentric metropolitan area with a total population of 6,011,000.
17. Total population is 3,271,000 if the metropolitan area of Augsburg (606,000) is included.
18. Part of a wider polycentric metropolitan area with a population of 3,714,000.
19. Lists Nottingham (919,484) and Derby (486,831) as two separate metropolitan areas.
20. Lists Ostrava (539,358) and Havířov (211,775) as two separate metropolitan areas.
21. Part of a wider polycentric urban region with a population of 1,778,000.
22. Lists Portsmouth (542,040) and Southampton (687,971) as two separate metropolitan areas.
23. Polycentric metropolitan area
24. Lists Düsseldorf (1,087,466), Wuppertal (872,475), and Mönchengladbach (597,287) as three separate metropolitan areas.
25. Lists Düsseldorf (1,464,904), Wuppertal (383,594), and Mönchengladbach (399,131) as three separate metropolitan areas.
26. Includes Duisburg metropolitan area of Ruhr.
27. Part of the polycentric urban region of Rhein-Ruhr, which has a total population of 12,190,000.
28. Lists Cologne (2,215,509) and Bonn (790,219) as two separate metropolitan areas.
29. Does not include Duisburg metropolitan area.
30. Does not include the French part.
31. Total population is 1,262,000 if the metropolitan area of Utrera (82,000) is included.
32. Continental placement may vary depending on geographic convention being followed.
33. Total population is 1,716,000 if the metropolitan area of Pinerolo (115,000) is included.
34. Total population is 1,499,000 if the metropolitan area of Sagunto (101,000) is included.

References

1. "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.
2. "Чисельність наявного населення України на 1 січня 2019" (PDF).(in Ukrainian)
3. 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.
4. "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'.
5. "OECD: FUAs and Cities". OECD. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
6. "Database". ec.europa.eu. Eurostat. Retrieved 16 Jun 2024. Population on 1 January by age groups and sex - functional urban areas (urb_lpop1)
7. "Study on Urban Functions (Project 1.4.3)]" (PDF). European Spatial Planning Observation Network. March 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015., Final Report, Chapter 3
8. 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

• Geopolis: research group, university of Paris-Diderot, France - Population of urban areas of 10,000 or more