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List of urban areas in the Nordic countries

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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, 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. Despite the common definition, the different statistical offices have different approaches to carrying out these measurements, resulting in slight differences between countries.

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 Capital of Sweden. Municipality: 978,770.  Sweden
2 Copenhagen 1,366,301 2,135,634 (see notes) Capital of Denmark. Municipality: 660,842 (2023).  Denmark
3 Helsinki 1,337,786 1,738,375 Capital of Finland. Municipality: 683,669.  Finland
4 Oslo 1,098,061 1,588,457 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
5 Gothenburg 607,882 1,070,935 Municipality: 599,305. Gothenburg seen by night  Sweden
6 Aarhus 367,095 845,971 Municipality: 367,095.  Denmark
7 Malmö 357,377 707,120

Eurostat: 658,050, 2017.

Municipality: 328,494.  Sweden
8 Tampere 347,470 440,372
Eurostat: 369,525. 		Municipality: 260,051. Most populous inland city in the Nordic countries.  Finland
9 Turku 291,230 337,751 Municipality: 205,949.  Finland
10 Bergen 272,125 420,000395,338 (2013, Eurostat) Municipality: 285 911. Metropolitan area: 377,116.  Norway
11 Oulu 257,670 258,241 Municipality: 216,174  Finland
12 Reykjavík

242,995

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 239,055 319,822
Municipality: 144 223. Metropolitan area: 297,569.

Conurbation includes the neighbouring municipalities Sandnes, Randaberg and Sola.

 Norway
14 Trondheim 198,777 310,052 (2022)
264,396 (2013, Eurostat) 		Municipality: 211,246  Norway
15 Odense 178,210 485,672 Municipality: 213,558  Denmark
16 Uppsala 168,096 253,704 288,203 Municipality: 225,164  Sweden
17 Aalborg 134,672 580,272 Includes Nørresundby; Municipality: 205,809  Denmark
18 Jyväskylä 143,420 212,500 Municipality: 149,263  Finland
19 Lahti 119,068 191,460 Municipality: 121,447  Finland
20 Fredrikstad/Sarpsborg 116,373 Fredrikstad: 83 220
Sarpsborg: 57 483 		 Norway
21 Västerås 110,877 173,322 195,675 Municipality: 137,207  Sweden
22 Drammen 109,416 Includes parts of Øvre Eiker, Lier and Røyken.  Norway
23 Örebro 107,038 208,241 Municipality: 135,460  Sweden
24 Linköping 104,232 177,308 Municipality: 146,416  Sweden
25 Helsingborg 97,122 272,873 Municipality: 129,177  Sweden
26 Porsgrunn/Skien 92,753 Includes Porsgrunn and Skien and a part of Bamble.  Norway
27 Jönköping 112,766 Municipality: 127,382  Sweden
28 Kuopio 88,520 167,753 Municipality: 125,597  Finland
29 Norrköping 87,247 183,100 Municipality: 130,050  Sweden
30 Pori 84,190 Municipality: 83,375  Finland
31 Lund 82,800 Municipality: 110,488

Included in Stormalmö (Malmö Metropolitan Area).

 Sweden
32 Umeå 79,594 Municipality: 115,473  Sweden
33 Esbjerg 72,398 Municipality: 116,032  Denmark
34 Gävle 71,033 184,346 Municipality: 95,055

Metropolitan area together with Sandviken

 Sweden
35 Joensuu 67,811 Municipality: 78,764  Finland
36 Vaasa 67,690 Municipality: 70,382  Finland
37 Borås 66,273 Municipality: 103,294  Sweden
38 Eskilstuna 64,679 209,028 Municipality: 96,311  Sweden
39 Södertälje 64,619 - Municipality: 86,246

No independent area, part of Greater Stockholm

 Sweden
40 Randers 62,687 Municipality: 98,265  Denmark
41 Karlstad 61,685 179,486 Municipality: 85,753  Sweden
42 Kristiansand 112 725 Municipality: 88,320  Norway
43 Växjö 60,887 156.629 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 Municipality: 91,800  Sweden
47 Vejle 56,567 Municipality: 114,140  Denmark
48 Horsens 55,884 Municipality: 85,662  Denmark
49 Lappeenranta 55,743 Municipality: 73,481  Finland
50 Rovaniemi 52,753 Municipality: 65,673  Finland
51 Kotka 51,704 Municipality: 50,336  Finland
52 Sundsvall 50,712 125,812 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 and 2018, the Danish data is from 2014, the Swedish is from 2010 and the Finnish is from 2017.

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. ^ "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.
50 most populous urban areas in the Nordic countries
1. Sweden Stockholm 1,605,030
2. Denmark Copenhagen 1,330,993
3. Finland Helsinki 1,268,296
4. Norway Oslo 1,019,513
5. Sweden Gothenburg 599,011
6. Sweden Malmö 339,313
7. Finland Tampere 334,112
8. Denmark Aarhus 280,534
9. Norway Bergen 259,958
10. Finland Turku 252,468
11. Norway Stavanger/Sandnes 237,369
12. Iceland Reykjavík 228,231
13. Finland Oulu 208,939
14. Norway Trondheim 186,364
15. Denmark Odense 180,302
16. Sweden Uppsala 177,074
17. Sweden Upplands Väsby och Sollentuna 149,461
18. Denmark Aalborg 140,897
19. Sweden Västerås 128,534
20. Sweden Örebro 126,009
21. Finland Lahti 119,068
22. Finland Jyväskylä 117,974
23. Norway Fredrikstad/Sarpsborg 116,373
24. Sweden Linköping 115,672
25. Sweden Helsingborg 113,816
26. Norway Kristiansand 111,633
27. Norway Drammen 109,416
28. Sweden Jönköping 100,259
29. Sweden Norrköping 97,854
30. Sweden Lund 94,393
31. Norway Porsgrunn/Skien 93,778
32. Sweden Umeå 90,412
33. Finland Kuopio 88,520
34. Finland Pori 84,026
35. Sweden Gävle 77,586
36. Sweden Södertälje 75,773
37. Sweden Borås 73,980
38. Denmark Esbjerg 72,398
39. Sweden Halmstad 71,316
40. Sweden Växjö 71,009
41. Sweden Eskilstuna 70,342
42. Finland Joensuu 67,811
43. Sweden Karlstad 65,856
44. Finland Vaasa 65,414
45. Denmark Randers 62,482
46. Denmark Kolding 61,121
47. Denmark Horsens 59,449
48. Sweden Sundsvall 58,807
49. Denmark Vejle 57,655
50. Finland Lappeenranta 55,743
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