Eurostat, the European Union's statistical agency, has created the concept of Larger Urban Zone (LUZ) in an effort to harmonise definitions of urbanisation in the European Union and in countries outside the European Union (such as Turkey).^[1] These definitions were agreed between Eurostat and the National Statistics Offices of the different countries of the European Union at the occasion of the European Commission's Urban Audit of 2004.^[2] LUZs have been criticised for their insufficient harmonisation of data, which are still collected by national governments within local administrative units, making it sometimes difficult to compare LUZs from different countries. In 2006, about a third of the LUZ definitions were changed, significantly improving the comparability of LUZ definitions across different countries. 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 1 million. 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.^[3]

List of LUZs by population (EU + EFTA + Turkey)

Rank	City name	Country	LUZ population	LUZ area (km²)
1	London	United Kingdom	11,917,000	8,920[4]
2	Istanbul	Turkey	11,154,928
3	Paris	France	11,089,124	12,079.87[4]
4	Madrid	Spain	5,804,829	8,022
5	Ruhr Area	Germany	5,302,179	4,435
6	Berlin	Germany	4,971,331	17,385
7	Barcelona	Spain	4,233,638	1,796.64
8	Athens	Greece	4,013,368	3,806.92
9	Ankara	Turkey	3,736,359
10	Rome	Italy	3,457,690	3,666.66
11	Hamburg	Germany	3,134,620	7,304
12	Milan	Italy	3,076,643	1,348.32
13	Upper Silesian Industrial Region	Poland	2,710,397	2,650.65
14	Stuttgart	Germany	2,663,660	3,654
15	Warsaw	Poland	2,660,406	5,198.52
16	Manchester	United Kingdom	2,539,100	1,280
17	Munich	Germany	2,531,706	5,504
18	Frankfurt	Germany	2,517,561	4,305
19	Izmir	Turkey	2,459,474
20	Lisbon	Portugal	2,435,837	1,432.49
21	Budapest	Hungary	2,393,846	2,538[4]
22	Leeds - Bradford	United Kingdom	2,393,300	5,114[4]
23	Birmingham	United Kingdom	2,357,100	1,598
24	Naples	Italy	2,253,964	564.95
25	Vienna	Austria	2,179,769	4,610.93[4]
26	Bucharest	Romania	2,140,194	662
27	Prague	Czech Republic	1,964,750	6,977[4]
28	Cologne	Germany	1,873,580	1,626
29	Stockholm	Sweden	1,860,872	6,519
30	Copenhagen	Denmark	1,806,667[4]	2,759[4]
31	Brussels	Belgium	1,800,663	1,613.91
32	Glasgow	United Kingdom	1,747,100	3,346
33	Turin	Italy	1,745,221	1,878.97
34	Lyon	France	1,717,300	5,997.68[4]
35	Valencia	Spain	1,564,145	1,440.58
36	Dublin	Republic of Ireland	1,535,446[4]
37	Düsseldorf	Germany	1,525,029	1,201
38	Bursa	Turkey	1,474,482
39	Amsterdam	Netherlands	1,443,258	859.28
40	Adana	Turkey	1,394,130
41	Liverpool	United Kingdom	1,365,900	821
42	Bielefeld	Germany	1,297,876	2,921
43	Hanover	Germany	1,294,447	2,966
44	Nuremberg	Germany	1,288,797	2,934
45	Sheffield	United Kingdom	1,277,100	1,846
46	Kraków	Poland	1,264,322	2,988.65
47	Sofia	Bulgaria	1,263,807[4]	3,424.2[4]
48	Seville	Spain	1,249,346	3,081.9
49	Bremen	Germany	1,249,291	5,885
50	Helsinki	Finland	1,224,107	2,969.94
51	Rotterdam	Netherlands	1,186,818	611.75
52	Łódź	Poland	1,163,516	2,857.51
53	Ostrava	Czech Republic	1,153,876	3,8896[4]
54	Zurich	Switzerland	1,110,478	1,086.14
55	Tricity	Poland	1,105,203	3,457.32
56	Porto	Portugal	1,099,040	562.32
57	Oslo	Norway	1,090,513	6,920
58	Newcastle upon Tyne	United Kingdom	1,055,600	3,385
59	Gaziantep	Turkey	1,052,795
60	Tolouse	France	1,052,497	4,706.93[4]
61	Wrocław	Poland	1,031,439	4,582.2
62	Poznań	Poland	1,018,511	3,719.2
63	Bristol	United Kingdom	1,006,600	1,635
64	Riga	Latvia	1,003,949	5,382.5

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:^[5]

• Demography
• Social Aspects
• Economic Aspects
• Civic Involvement
• Training and Education
• Environment
• Travel and Transport
• Information Society
• Culture and Recreation

References

See also

• Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits
• Largest European metropolitan areas
• Largest urban areas of the European Union
• World's largest cities