List of urban areas in the Nordic countries explained

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.[2] 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 NotesImageCountry
1 Stockholm 1,611,776 2,417,124[3] Capital of Sweden. Municipality: 978,770.
2 Copenhagen1,366,301[4] 2,135,634[5] (see notes)Capital of Denmark. Municipality: 660,842 (2023).
3 Helsinki1,337,786[6] 1 738 375Capital of Finland. Municipality: .
4 Oslo 1,036,059 1,588,457[7] [8] 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.
5 607,882 [9] 1,070,935 [10] Municipality: 599,305. Sweden
6 Aarhus367,095[11] 845,971Municipality: 367,095.[12] Denmark
7 Malmö357 377707,120

Eurostat: 658,050, 2017.

Municipality: 328,494. Sweden
8 Tampere347,470[13] 440,372
Eurostat: 369,525.		Municipality: . Most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. Finland
9 Turku291,230337,751[14] Municipality: . Finland
10 259,958420,000395,338 (2013, Eurostat) Municipality: 285 911. Metropolitan area: 377,116. Norway
11 Oulu257,670258,241 Municipality: Finland
12 Reykjavík242,995[15] Capital of Iceland. Municipality: 135,688.Urban area includes all or most of the population of 5 additional municipalities in the Capital region.
13 Stavanger/Sandnes228,287319,822
Municipality: 144 223. Metropolitan area: 297,569. Conurbation includes the neighbouring municipalities Sandnes, Randaberg and Sola. Norway
14 191,771310,052 (2022)[16]
264,396 (2013, Eurostat)		Municipality: 211,246 Norway
15 178,210[17] 485,672 Municipality: 213,558 Denmark
16 168,096 253,704[18] 288,203 Municipality: 225,164 Sweden
17 134,672580,272 Includes Nørresundby; Municipality: 205,809 Denmark
18 143,420 212,500Municipality: Finland
19 119,068 191,460 Municipality: Finland
20 116,373Fredrikstad

83 220
Sarpsborg: 57 483

 Norway
21 110,877 173,322 195,675 Municipality: 137,207 Sweden
22 109,416Includes parts of Øvre Eiker, Lier and Røyken. Norway
23 107,038 208,241Municipality: 135,460 Sweden
24 104,232 177,308Municipality: 146,416 Sweden
25 97,122 272,873Municipality: 129,177 Sweden
26 92,753Includes Porsgrunn and Skien and a part of Bamble. Norway
27 112,766 Municipality: 127,382 Sweden
28 88,520 167,753Municipality: Finland
29 87,247 183,100Municipality: 130,050 Sweden
30 84,190 Municipality: Finland
31 82,800 Municipality: 110,488Included in Stormalmö (Malmö Metropolitan Area). Sweden
32 79,594 Municipality: 115,473 Sweden
33 72,398 Municipality: 116,032 Denmark
34 71,033 184,346Municipality: 95,055Metropolitan area together with Sandviken Sweden
35 67,811 Municipality: Finland
36 67,690 Municipality: Finland
37 66,273 Municipality: 103,294 Sweden
38 64,679 209,028Municipality: 96,311 Sweden
39 64,619 -| Municipality: 86,246No independent area, part of Greater Stockholm||| Sweden|-| style="text-align:center;"|40 || Randers || style="text-align:center;" |62,687| || Municipality: 98,265||| Denmark|-| style="text-align:center;"|41 || Karlstad || style="text-align:center;" |61,685 |179,486|| Municipality: 85,753||| Sweden|-| style="text-align:center;"|42 || Kristiansand || style="text-align:center;" |112 725 | || Municipality: 88,320||| Norway|-| style="text-align:center;"|43 || Växjö || style="text-align:center;" |60,887 |156.629| Municipality: 83,005||| Sweden|-| style="text-align:center;"|44 || Täby || style="text-align:center;" |61,272 |-Municipality: 63,789No independent area, part of Greater Stockholm Sweden
45 60,508 Municipality: 92,515 Denmark
46 58,577 134,156Municipality: 91,800 Sweden
47 56,567 Municipality: 114,140 Denmark
48 55,884 Municipality: 85,662 Denmark
49 55,743 Municipality: Finland
50 52,753 Municipality: Finland
51 51,704 Municipality: Finland
52 50,712 125,812Municipality: 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[19] and 2018,[20] the Danish data is from 2014,[21] the Swedish is from 2010[22] and the Finnish is from 2017.[13]

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 and References

  1. Web site: Nationalencyklopedin - Tätort. Nationalencyklopedin. 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. Web site: Localities 2010: Population, age and gender. Statistics Sweden. 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. sv, en.
  3. Web site: Folkmängden efter region, civilstånd, ålder och kön. År 1968 - 201. sv. Statistikmyndigheten SCB. 22 December 2017. 5 April 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200405062310/http://www.statistikdatabasen.scb.se/pxweb/sv/ssd/START__BE__BE0101__BE0101A/BefolkManad. dead.
  4. Web site: BY1: Population 1. January 2023 by urban, rural areas, age and sex . statbank.dk.
  5. Web site: Statistikbanken. www.statbank.dk. 2020-01-09.
  6. https://pxnet2.stat.fi/PXWeb/pxweb/sv/StatFin/StatFin__vrm__vaerak/statfin_vaerak_pxt_11s8.px/ Statistikcentralen, Finland; Tätorter efter folkmängd och folktäthet, 2019
  7. Web site: St.meld. nr. 31 (2002-2003). regionaldepartementet. Kommunal- og. 2003-05-09. Regjeringen.no. no. 2017-12-22.
  8. News: Folketalet ved nyttår var 5 258 000. ssb.no. 2017-12-22. nn-NO.
  9. Web site: SCB . Statistikmyndigheten . 2022-04-08 . Tätorter i Sverige .
  10. https://goteborgsregionen.se/kunskapsbank/folkmangdigoteborgsregionen2022.5.3d3d65dc17ee36e9de7ce73.html
  11. Web site: Statistikbanken. www.statbank.dk.
  12. Web site: Statistikbanken. www.statistikbanken.dk.
  13. Web site: Urban settlements by population and population density, 31 Dec 2017 . 11 February 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180718055316/http://pxnet2.stat.fi/PXWeb/pxweb/en/StatFin/StatFin__vrm__vaerak/statfin_vaerak_pxt_027_fi.px . 18 July 2018 . dead .
  14. Web site: Seutukuntien ennakkoväkiluku alueittain, elokuu 2013 . 2013-08-31 . Tiedote . Statistics Finland (Tilastokeskus) . fi . 2 October 2013 . https://archive.today/20130627020549/http://193.166.171.75/Dialog/Varvalagg.asp?ma=005_vamuu_tau_101&ti=Ennakkov%E4kiluku+alueittain,+toukokuu+2013&path=../Database/StatFin/vrm/vamuu/&lang=3&xu=&yp=&nr=1&aggfile(1)=Seutukunnat+2013&prevagg=NN&mapname=&multilang=fi&aggdir1= . 27 June 2013 . dead . dmy-all .
  15. Web site: Population by localities, sex and age 1 January 1998-2023 . 1 January 2023 . www.hagstofa.is . .
  16. News: Vi har passert 310 000 innbyggere. 2022-03-31. Trondheimsregionen. no. 2022-06-30. Kringstad . Hans .
  17. Web site: Population 1. January by urban, rural areas (DISCONTINUED) - StatBank Denmark - data and statistics. www.statistikbanken.dk.
  18. Web site: table. www.statistikdatabasen.scb.se. 2017-12-22.
  19. http://www.ssb.no/beftett/tab-2012-09-06-01.html Citypopulation Norway
  20. https://www.ssb.no/en/befolkning/statistikker/beftett/aar Population and land area in urban settlements, December 2018
  21. Web site: Denmark: Regions, Municipalities, Cities and Urban Areas - Population Statistics in Maps and Charts. www.citypopulation.de. 2011-09-30. https://web.archive.org/web/20120408144050/http://www.citypopulation.de/Denmark.html. 2012-04-08. dead.
  22. Web site: Sweden: Counties, Cities, Municipalities, Settlements and Metropolitan Areas - Population Statistics in Maps and Charts. www.citypopulation.de.

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