List of urban areas in the Nordic countries

This is a list of urban areas in the Nordic countries by population. Urban areas in the Nordic countries are measured at national level, independently by each country's statistical office. Statistics Sweden uses the term tätort (urban settlement), Statistics Finland also uses tätort in Swedish and taajama in Finnish, Statistics Denmark uses byområde (city), while Statistics Norway uses tettsted (urban settlement).

Population density in the Nordic countries.

The Stockholm urban area (in blue), the largest urban area in the Nordic countries. The area includes land both inside and outside of the municipality of Stockholm.

A common statistical definition between the Nordic countries was agreed in 1960,^[1] which defines an urban area as a contiguous built-up area with a population of at least 200 and where the maximum distance between dwellings is 200 metres, excluding roads, car parks, parks, sports grounds and cemeteries - regardless of the boundaries of the municipality, district or county.^[1][2] Despite the common definition, the different statistical offices have different approaches to carrying out these measurements, resulting in slight differences between countries.^{[lower-alpha 1]}

The Nordic definition is unique to these countries and should not be confused with international concepts of metropolitan area or urban areas in general. In 2010, Finland (stat.fi) changed its definition. This means that, according to official statistics, the land area covered by urban areas is three times larger in Finland than in Norway, although the total urban population is about the same (ssb.no). It also means that the population of a Danish 'byområder' is usually less than half the population of the 'functional urban area' as defined by Eurostat, whereas the population of a Finnish 'taajama' is usually around 80% of the respective 'functional urban area' as defined by Eurostat. For example, in 2013 the 'functional urban area' of Aarhus had a population of 845,971, while the 'functional urban area' of Tampere had a population of 364,992. However, according to official statistics, the "taajama" of Tampere is larger than the "byområde" of Aarhus (eurostat.ec). This suggests that direct comparisons between Finland and the other Nordic countries may be problematic.

List

Rank	City / urban settlement	Urban area	Metropolitan / Eurostat Functional Urban Area	Notes	Image	Country
1	Stockholm	1,611,776	2,417,124[3]	Capital of Sweden. Municipality: 978,770.		Sweden
2	Copenhagen	1,366,301[4]	2,135,634[5] (see notes)	Capital of Denmark. Municipality: 660,842 (2023).		Denmark
3	Helsinki	1,337,786[6]	1 738 375	Capital of Finland. Municipality: 681,802.		Finland
4	Oslo	1,098,061[7]	1,588,457[8][9] 1,278,827 (Eurostat, 2013, latest available)	Capital of Norway. Municipality: 697 028. The Greater Oslo Region (metropolitan) area has a population of 1,546,706.		Norway
5	Gothenburg	607,882 [10]	1,070,935 [11]	Municipality: 599,305.		Sweden
6	Aarhus	367,095[12]	845,971	Municipality: 367,095.[13]		Denmark
7	Malmö	357 377	707,120[3] Eurostat: 658,050, 2017.	Municipality: 328,494.		Sweden
8	Tampere	347,470[14]	440,372 Eurostat: 369,525.	Municipality: 258,770. Most populous inland city in the Nordic countries.		Finland
9	Turku	291,230[14]	337,751[15]	Municipality: 204,618.		Finland
10	Bergen	272,125[7]	420,000[citation needed]395,338 (2013, Eurostat) [11]	Municipality: 285 911. Metropolitan area: 377,116.		Norway
11	Oulu	257,670[14]	258,241	Municipality: 215,530		Finland
12	Reykjavík	242,995[16]		Capital of Iceland. Municipality: 135,688. Urban area includes all or most of the population of 5 additional municipalities in the Capital region.		Iceland
13	Stavanger/Sandnes	239,055[7]	319,822	Municipality: 144 223. Metropolitan area: 297,569. Conurbation includes the neighbouring municipalities Sandnes, Randaberg and Sola.		Norway
14	Trondheim	198,777[7]	310,052 (2022)[17] 264,396 (2013, Eurostat)	Municipality: 211,246		Norway
15	Odense	178,210[18]	485,672	Municipality: 213,558		Denmark
16	Uppsala	168,096	253,704[19] 288,203	Municipality: 225,164		Sweden
17	Aalborg	134,672[18]	580,272	Includes Nørresundby; Municipality: 205,809		Denmark
18	Jyväskylä	143,420[14]	212,500	Municipality: 148,622		Finland
19	Lahti	119,068[14]	191,460	Municipality: 121,202		Finland
20	Fredrikstad/Sarpsborg	116,373[20]		Fredrikstad: 83 220 Sarpsborg: 57 483		Norway
21	Västerås	110,877	173,322[19] 195,675	Municipality: 137,207		Sweden
22	Drammen	109,416[7]		Includes parts of Øvre Eiker, Lier and Røyken.		Norway
23	Örebro	107,038	208,241[19]	Municipality: 135,460		Sweden
24	Linköping	104,232	177,308[19]	Municipality: 146,416		Sweden
25	Helsingborg	97,122	272,873[19]	Municipality: 129,177		Sweden
26	Porsgrunn/Skien	92,753[20]		Includes Porsgrunn and Skien and a part of Bamble.		Norway
27	Jönköping	112,766		Municipality: 127,382		Sweden
28	Kuopio	88,520[14]	167,753[19]	Municipality: 124,825		Finland
29	Norrköping	87,247	183,100[19]	Municipality: 130,050		Sweden
30	Pori	84,190[14]		Municipality: 83,334		Finland
31	Lund	82,800		Municipality: 110,488 Included in Stormalmö (Malmö Metropolitan Area).[19]		Sweden
32	Umeå	79,594		Municipality: 115,473		Sweden
33	Esbjerg	72,398		Municipality: 116,032		Denmark
34	Gävle	71,033	184,346[19]	Municipality: 95,055 Metropolitan area together with Sandviken[19]		Sweden
35	Joensuu	67,811[14]		Municipality: 78,204		Finland
36	Vaasa	67,690[14]		Municipality: 69,542		Finland
37	Borås	66,273		Municipality: 103,294		Sweden
38	Eskilstuna	64,679	209,028[19]	Municipality: 96,311		Sweden
39	Södertälje	64,619	-	Municipality: 86,246 No independent area, part of Greater Stockholm[19]		Sweden
40	Randers	62,687		Municipality: 98,265		Denmark
41	Karlstad	61,685	179,486[19]	Municipality: 85,753		Sweden
42	Kristiansand	112 725		Municipality: 88,320		Norway
43	Växjö	60,887	156.629[19]	Municipality: 83,005		Sweden
44	Täby	61,272	-	Municipality: 63,789 No independent area, part of Greater Stockholm		Sweden
45	Kolding	60,508		Municipality: 92,515		Denmark
46	Halmstad	58,577	134,156[19]	Municipality: 91,800		Sweden
47	Vejle	56,567		Municipality: 114,140		Denmark
48	Horsens	55,884		Municipality: 85,662		Denmark
49	Lappeenranta	55,743[14]		Municipality: 73,084		Finland
50	Rovaniemi	52,753[14]		Municipality: 65,321		Finland
51	Kotka	51,704[14]		Municipality: 50,422		Finland
52	Sundsvall	50,712	125,812[19]	Municipality: 96,977		Sweden

Note that the population numbers from the countries are from different years, as Statistics Finland, Statistics Norway and Statistics Denmark release the statistic yearly (albeit at different times of the year), Statistics Sweden only release the figures every five years. The Norwegian data is from 2013^[20] and 2018,^[7] the Danish data is from 2014,^[21] the Swedish is from 2010^[22] and the Finnish is from 2017.^[14]

Also note that some of the statistics have been updated since the first note was made, so some statistics may be from 2018, while others from 2013, etc.

See also

• Urban areas in the Nordic countries
• List of the most populated municipalities in the Nordic countries
• List of metropolitan areas in Sweden
• List of urban areas in Sweden by population
• List of urban areas in Denmark by population
• List of urban areas in Norway by population
• List of urban areas in Finland by population
• List of cities in Iceland
• List of cities in the Baltic states
• List of metropolitan areas by population

Notes

1. For example, Statistics Finland utilizes a 62,500 square metres (673,000 sq ft) grid system for analyzing population, resulting in slight measurement differences between it and the other Nordic statistical bureaus.

References

1. "Nationalencyklopedin - Tätort". Nationalencyklopedin. Retrieved 21 July 2014. Translation: 'a for the Nordic countries shared statistical definition of built-up area with at least 200 residents, not more than 200 m between each other (without regard to the ward, municipal or county boundaries)'
2. "Localities 2010: Population, age and gender" (PDF) (in Swedish and English). Statistics Sweden. Retrieved 21 July 2014. A densely built area includes any cluster of buildings with at least 200 inhabitants, unless the distance between the houses exceeds 200 metres. However, the distance may exceed 200 metres if the cluster of buildings is situated within the area of influence of a larger locality. [...] Even if the distance between buildings exceeds 200 metres, the locality should not be divided if the area between the buildings is used for public purposes such as roads, parking spaces, parks, sports grounds and cemeteries. The same applies to undeveloped areas such as storage sites, railways and docks.page=21
3. "Folkmängden efter region, civilstånd, ålder och kön. År 1968 - 201" (in Swedish). Statistikmyndigheten SCB. Archived from the original on 5 April 2020. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
4. "BY1: Population 1. January 2023 by urban, rural areas, age and sex". statbank.dk.
5. "Statistikbanken". www.statbank.dk. Retrieved 2020-01-09.
6. Statistikcentralen, Finland; Tätorter efter folkmängd och folktäthet, 2019 Retrieved 27 november 2020.
7. Population and land area in urban settlements, December 2018
8. regionaldepartementet, Kommunal- og (2003-05-09). "St.meld. nr. 31 (2002-2003)". Regjeringen.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2017-12-22.
9. "Folketalet ved nyttår var 5 258 000". ssb.no (in Norwegian Nynorsk). Retrieved 2017-12-22.
10. SCB, Statistikmyndigheten (2022-04-08). "Tätorter i Sverige".
11. Folkmängd i Göteborgsregionen 2022
12. "Statistikbanken". www.statbank.dk.
13. "Statistikbanken". www.statistikbanken.dk.
14. "Urban settlements by population and population density, 31 Dec 2017". Archived from the original on 18 July 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
15. "Seutukuntien ennakkoväkiluku alueittain, elokuu 2013". Tiedote (in Finnish). Statistics Finland (Tilastokeskus). 31 August 2013. Archived from the original on 27 June 2013. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
16. "Population by localities, sex and age 1 January 1998-2023". www.hagstofa.is. Statistics Iceland. 1 January 2023.
17. Kringstad, Hans (2022-03-31). "Vi har passert 310 000 innbyggere". Trondheimsregionen (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2022-06-30.
18. "Population 1. January by urban, rural areas (DISCONTINUED) - StatBank Denmark - data and statistics". www.statistikbanken.dk.
19. "table". www.statistikdatabasen.scb.se. Retrieved 2017-12-22.
20. Citypopulation Norway Archived 2012-11-20 at the Wayback Machine
21. "Denmark: Regions, Municipalities, Cities and Urban Areas - Population Statistics in Maps and Charts". www.citypopulation.de. Archived from the original on 2012-04-08. Retrieved 2011-09-30.
22. "Sweden: Counties, Cities, Municipalities, Settlements and Metropolitan Areas - Population Statistics in Maps and Charts". www.citypopulation.de.