List of urban areas in the Nordic countries

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.

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).

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.[a]

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

RankCity / urban settlementUrban areaMetropolitan / Eurostat Functional Urban AreaNotesImageCountry
1Stockholm1,611,7762,417,124[3]Capital of Sweden. Municipality: 978,770. Sweden
2Copenhagen1,366,301[4]2,135,634[5] (see notes)Capital of Denmark. Municipality: 660,842 (2023). Denmark
3Helsinki1,337,786[6]1,738,375Capital of Finland. Municipality: 684,589. Finland
4Oslo1,098,061[7]1,588,457[8][9] 1,278,827 (Eurostat, 2013, latest available)Capital of Norway. Municipality: 723 196. The Greater Oslo Region (metropolitan) area has a population of 1,546,706. Norway
5Gothenburg607,882 [10]1,070,935 [11]Municipality: 599,305.Gothenburg seen by night Sweden
6Aarhus367,095[12]845,971Municipality: 367,095.[13] Denmark
7Malmö357,377707,120[3]

Eurostat: 658,050, 2017.

Municipality: 328,494. Sweden
8Tampere347,470[14]440,372
Eurostat: 369,525.		Municipality: 260,358. Most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. Finland
9Turku291,230[14]337,751[15]Municipality: 206,035. Finland
10Bergen272,125[7]420,000[citation needed]395,338 (2013, Eurostat) [11]Municipality: 285 911. Metropolitan area: 377,116. Norway
11Oulu257,670[14]258,241Municipality: 216,194 Finland
12Reykjavík

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
13Stavanger/Sandnes239,055[7]319,822
Municipality: 144 223. Metropolitan area: 297,569.

Conurbation includes the neighbouring municipalities Sandnes, Randaberg and Sola.

 Norway
14Trondheim198,777[7]310,052 (2022)[17]
264,396 (2013, Eurostat)		Municipality: 211,246 Norway
15Odense178,210[18]485,672Municipality: 213,558 Denmark
16Uppsala168,096253,704[19] 288,203Municipality: 225,164 Sweden
17Aalborg134,672[18]580,272Includes Nørresundby; Municipality: 205,809 Denmark
18Jyväskylä143,420[14]212,500Municipality: 149,269 Finland
19Lahti119,068[14]191,460Municipality: 121,383 Finland
20Fredrikstad/Sarpsborg116,373[20]Fredrikstad: 83 220
Sarpsborg: 57 483		 Norway
21Västerås110,877173,322[19] 195,675Municipality: 137,207 Sweden
22Drammen109,416[7]Includes parts of Øvre Eiker, Lier and Røyken. Norway
23Örebro107,038208,241[19]Municipality: 135,460 Sweden
24Linköping104,232177,308[19]Municipality: 146,416 Sweden
25Helsingborg97,122272,873[19]Municipality: 129,177 Sweden
26Porsgrunn/Skien92,753[20]Includes Porsgrunn and Skien and a part of Bamble. Norway
27Jönköping112,766Municipality: 127,382 Sweden
28Kuopio88,520[14]167,753[19]Municipality: 125,668 Finland
29Norrköping87,247183,100[19]Municipality: 130,050 Sweden
30Pori84,190[14]Municipality: 83,316 Finland
31Lund82,800Municipality: 110,488

Included in Stormalmö (Malmö Metropolitan Area).[19]

 Sweden
32Umeå79,594Municipality: 115,473 Sweden
33Esbjerg72,398Municipality: 116,032 Denmark
34Gävle71,033184,346[19]Municipality: 95,055

Metropolitan area together with Sandviken[19]

 Sweden
35Joensuu67,811[14]Municipality: 78,743 Finland
36Vaasa67,690[14]Municipality: 70,374 Finland
37Borås66,273Municipality: 103,294 Sweden
38Eskilstuna64,679209,028[19]Municipality: 96,311 Sweden
39Södertälje64,619-Municipality: 86,246

No independent area, part of Greater Stockholm[19]

 Sweden
40Randers62,687Municipality: 98,265 Denmark
41Karlstad61,685179,486[19]Municipality: 85,753 Sweden
42Kristiansand112 725Municipality: 88,320 Norway
43Växjö60,887156.629[19]Municipality: 83,005 Sweden
44Täby61,272-Municipality: 63,789

No independent area, part of Greater Stockholm

 Sweden
45Kolding60,508Municipality: 92,515 Denmark
46Halmstad58,577134,156[19]Municipality: 91,800 Sweden
47Vejle56,567Municipality: 114,140 Denmark
48Horsens55,884Municipality: 85,662 Denmark
49Lappeenranta55,743[14]Municipality: 73,369 Finland
50Rovaniemi52,753[14]Municipality: 65,738 Finland
51Kotka51,704[14]Municipality: 50,210 Finland
52Sundsvall50,712125,812[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

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. ^ a b "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. ^ a b "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. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ a b [1] Folkmängd i Göteborgsregionen 2022
  12. ^ "Statistikbanken". www.statbank.dk.
  13. ^ "Statistikbanken". www.statistikbanken.dk.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "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. ^ a b "Population 1. January by urban, rural areas (DISCONTINUED) - StatBank Denmark - data and statistics". www.statistikbanken.dk.
  19. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p "table". www.statistikdatabasen.scb.se. Retrieved 2017-12-22.
  20. ^ a b c 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.
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