Larger urban zone

The larger urban zone (LUZ) is an urban definition introduced in 2004 by Eurostat, the statistical agency of the European Union, in agreement with the national statistics offices in the member states.[1][2]

In 2006 LUZ definitions were changed significantly, improving the comparability of LUZ definitions across different countries. Several cities, such as Marseille, Lille and Nice, are excluded by definition from the list of LUZs on technical, definitional grounds, such as the coincidence of the metropolitan area with the urban zone.[3][4][5]

The latest round of the Urban Audit also added cities from candidate countries and EFTA countries.

Eurostat's urban definitions

The list below shows the population sizes of cities in the European Union as well as candidate countries and non-EU EFTA countries. The list is limited to those cities whose Larger Urban Zones (LUZ) have populations of at least 500,000. The LUZ represents an attempt at a harmonised definition of the metropolitan area. Eurostat's objective was to have an area from a significant share of the resident commute into the city, a concept known as the "functional urban region." To ensure a good data availability, Eurostat adjusts the LUZ boundaries to administrative boundaries that approximate the functional urban region.

Ranking methodology

The list below contains the cities in the European Union and associated countries that participated in the third round of the Urban Audit programme. The cities are ranked by the size of the population of the Larger Urban Zone. The figures in the Eurostat database are an attempt at a compromise between harmonised data for all of the European Union, and with availability of statistical data, making comparisons more accurate. The data used is from the 2006 Urban Audit III, which uses information collected for 2004.[6]

List of larger urban zones by population

Although the latest round of the Urban Audit also added cities from EFTA countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) and EU candidate countries, the only candidate country for which there is available data is Turkey. (Marseille, Lille, Nice, Cordoba, Badajoz, Toulon and Montpellier should be added on the updated 2004 list: see the French Wikipedia page for the complete and updated 2004 list.) The 2008 updated data from Urban Audit IV[7] has been partially published (still missing cities). The Urban Audit V with 2011 data was to be published from 2013 on,[8] but as of May 2014 "the results of the 2011 data collection are being collected."[9]

Rank City name Country LUZ population LUZ area (km²) Population Density (per km²)
1 London
  United Kingdom 12,208,100 8,920[10] 1,336
2 Paris
  France 11,755,918 12,079.87[10] 918
3 Istanbul
 Turkey 11,044,642 5,313 2,564
4 Madrid
  Spain 6,569,530 8,022 724
5 Ruhr
  Germany 5,302,179 4,435 1,196
6 Berlin
  Germany 5,097,712 17,385 286
7 Barcelona
  Spain 4,917,163 1,796.64 2,356
8 Athens
  Greece 4,164,475 3,806.92 1,054
9 Ankara
  Turkey 3,708,047
10 Rome
  Italy 3,457,690 3,666.66 943
11 Hamburg
  Germany 3,134,620 7,304 429
12 Milan
  Italy 3,076,643 1,348.32 2,282
13 Katowice
  Poland 2,710,397 2,650.65 1,023
14 Stuttgart
  Germany 2,663,660 3,654 729
15 Warsaw
  Poland 2,660,406 5,198.52 512
16 Munich
  Germany 2,531,706 5,504 460
17 Budapest
  Hungary 2,524,697 2,538[10] 943
18 Frankfurt
  Germany 2,517,561 4,305 585
19 Izmir
  Turkey 2,440,902
20 Lisbon
  Portugal 2,435,837 1,432.49 1,700
21 Birmingham
  United Kingdom 2,284,093 1,598 1,475
22 Naples
  Italy 2,253,964 564.95 3,990
23 Manchester
  United Kingdom 2,240,230 1,280 1,984
24 Vienna
  Austria 2,179,769 4,610.93[10] 473
25 Bucharest
  Romania 2,140,194 662 3,233
26 Prague
  Czech Republic 1,964,750 6,977[10] 282
27 Cologne
  Germany 1,873,580 1,626 1,152
28 Stockholm
  Sweden 1,860,872 6,519 285
29 Copenhagen
  Denmark 1,806,667[10] 2,759[10] 655
30 Brussels
  Belgium 1,800,663 1,613.91 1,116
31 Glasgow
  United Kingdom 1,747,100 3,346 522
32 Turin
  Italy 1,745,221 1,878.97 929
33 Lyon
  France 1,717,300 5,997.68[10] 286
34 Valencia
  Spain 1,564,145 1,440.58 1,086
35 Dublin
  Ireland 1,535,446[10] 114.99 4,588
36 Düsseldorf
  Germany 1,525,029 1,201 1,270
37 Leeds
  United Kingdom 1,499,465 5,114[10] 468
38 Bursa
  Turkey 1,458,067
39 Amsterdam
  Netherlands 1,571,234 859.28 1,680
40 Adana
  Turkey 1,384,680
41 Liverpool
  United Kingdom 1,365,900 821 1,664
42 Bielefeld
  Germany 1,297,876 2,921 444
43 Hanover
  Germany 1,294,447 2,966 436
44 Nuremberg
  Germany 1,288,797 2,934 439
45 Sofia
  Bulgaria 1,280,457 1,344 953
46 Sheffield
  United Kingdom 1,277,100 1,846 692
47 Kraków
  Poland 1,264,322 2,988.65 423
48 Seville
  Spain 1,249,346 3,081.9 405
49 Bremen
  Germany 1,249,291 5,885 213
50 Helsinki
  Finland 1,224,107 2,969.94 412
51 Rotterdam
  Netherlands 1,186,818 611.75 1,940
52 Łódź
  Poland 1,163,516 2,857.51 407
53 Ostrava
  Czech Republic 1,153,876 3,896[10] 296
54 Zagreb
  Croatia 1,110,517 3,719 299
55 Zürich
   Switzerland 1,110,478 1,086.14 1,022
56 Gdańsk
  Poland 1,105,203 3,457.32 320
57 Porto
  Portugal 1,099,040 562.32 1,954
58 Oslo
  Norway 1,090,513 6,920 158
59 Newcastle upon Tyne
  United Kingdom 1,055,600 3,385 312
60 Toulouse
  France 1,052,497 4,706.93[10] 224
61 Gaziantep
!		  Turkey 1,042,732
62 Wrocław
  Poland 1,031,439 4,582.2 225
63 Poznań
  Poland 1,018,511 3,719.2 274
64 Bristol
  United Kingdom 1,006,600 1,635 616
65 Riga
  Latvia 1,003,949 5,382.5 187
66 Thessaloniki
  Greece 995,766 1,455.62
67 Bordeaux
  France 981,370
68 The Hague
  Netherlands 978,161
69 Bilbao
  Spain 939,994
70 Konya
  Turkey 919,433
71 Antwerp
  Belgium 915,258
72 Bonn
  Germany 908,503
73 Leipzig
  Germany 904,401
74 Dresden
  Germany 902,067
75 Göteborg
  Sweden 873,335
76 Saarbrücken
  Germany 855,317
77 Palermo
  Italy 855,285
78 Vilnius
  Lithuania 850,300
79 Aarhus
  Denmark 845,971[11] 5,400 157
80 Cardiff
  United Kingdom 841,600
81 Nottingham
  United Kingdom 825,600 4,073 202
82 Diyarbakir
  Turkey 814,874
83 Antalya
  Turkey 814,685
84 Genoa
  Italy 800,709[12]
85 Edinburgh
  United Kingdom 787,700
86 Szczecin
  Poland 777,806
87 Leicester
  United Kingdom 772,400
88 Nantes
  France 751,085
89 Bologna
  Italy 743,965
90 Brno
  Czech Republic 728,101
91 Karlsruhe
  Germany 712,475
92 Málaga
  Spain 699,916
93 Florence
  Italy 696,767
94 Zaragoza
  Spain 685,873
95 Kayseri
  Turkey 675,734
96 Lublin
  Poland 652,642 2,883 226
97 Coventry
  United Kingdom 651,000
98 Kiel
!		  Germany 641,905
99 Belfast
  United Kingdom 641,638
100 Strasbourg
  France 634,275
101 Augsburg
  Germany 629,139
102 Liège
  Belgium 626,357
103 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
  Spain 625,892
104 Bari
  Italy 623,298
105 Freiburg im Breisgau
  Germany 618,467
106 Venice
  Italy 612,245
107 Padua
  Italy 605,709
108 Izmit
  Turkey 601,351
109 Bratislava
  Slovakia 601,132
110 Palma
  Spain 593,386
111 Magdeburg
  Germany 588,875
112 Bydgoszcz
  Poland 582,927
113 Kingston upon Hull
  United Kingdom 573,300
114 Catania
  Italy 572,302
115 Utrecht
  Netherlands 564,485
116 Verona
  Italy 563,952
117 Rennes
  France 553,579
118 Malmö
  Sweden 550,289
119 Vigo
  Spain 548,799
120 Erfurt
  Germany 543,226
121 Grenoble
  France 541,888
122 Linz
  Austria 532,995
123 Białystok
  Poland 523,958
124 Tallinn
  Estonia 521,410
125 Rouen
  France 519,318
126 Santa Cruz
  Spain 507,306
127 Malatya
  Turkey 501,849

Urban Audit

Eurostat's Urban Audit is about much more than demographics. In order for it to be useful as a policy tool to the European Commission and other authorities it contains data for over 250 indicators across the following domains:[13][14]

See also

References

External links