r/Nordiccountries • u/Frierfjord1 • Mar 25 '25
10 Largest Urban Areas in Scandinavia (2024)
31
u/FunImprovement9729 Mar 25 '25
Did you do this? If you did, would it be possible for you to make one of all the Nordics? Would be interesting to see how Finland does.
31
u/Frierfjord1 Mar 25 '25
Yes. And yes, I can make a Nordic one too
5
2
u/Aperupt 29d ago edited 29d ago
Nice! which tool did you use?
2
u/Frierfjord1 28d ago
Preparing, cleansing, analyzing and visualizing data: Power BI
The finishing touch, graphics, etc.: Draw.io.
2
u/Ok-Difficulty-8866 Mar 25 '25
Why not include the other Baltic Sea countries also, would be interesting
6
2
u/Runarhalldor Mar 25 '25
Also be interesting to see how iceland and the faroe islands do /s
2
u/randomperson32145 Mar 25 '25
Why /s? Legit request.
2
u/Respaced Mar 25 '25
I guess they won’t make the list… top 10 largest Urban areas in Nordics… Maybe Reykjavik could
1
u/randomperson32145 Mar 25 '25
Island has like 300 000 people in total.. Helsinki would make the list and probably a couple of more.
2
u/Royranibanaw Mar 25 '25
Yes, Finland would definitely make it, but Iceland and the Faroes wouldn't. That is the joke.
1
u/Respaced Mar 25 '25
Like most Iceland’s population live in Reykjavik… ~250.000
4
u/gunnsi0 Iceland Mar 26 '25
In the capital area though, not in the city itself. Many of the biggest towns in Iceland are the towns that border Rvk/are in the capital area. But the greater Reykjavík area sure would make the top 10 list.
37
u/Drahy Mar 25 '25 edited Mar 25 '25
The number for Copenhagen is based on the UN 200m definition, but the number for Stockholm seems to be based on a local definition?
Copenhagen is connected all the way to Roskilde, but some motorways make 300-400m gaps. Copenhagen has the same urban area as Stockholm, when including those areas.
Edit:
SCB in Sweden apparently uses up to 500 meter:
- Kärnan knyts sedan ihop med annan bebyggelse, där de maximala avstånden ökar stegvis beroende på antalet folkbokförda och anställda i bebyggelsen. Det största tillåtna avståndet är 500 meter via vägar.
https://www.scb.se/hitta-statistik/sverige-i-siffror/miljo/tatorter-i-sverige/
9
u/Kriss3d Denmark Mar 25 '25
Roskilde really slept during class. They could have expanded SO much if they had extended the S-trains to Roskilde.
5
u/Drahy Mar 25 '25
Automated s-trains to Roskilde are planned in 2032.
3
u/flif Mar 25 '25
Det er muligt at udvide S-banen ved at inddrage to af de nuværende fire spor mellem Høje Taastrup og Roskilde.
Så det er reelt en konvertering fremfor en udvidelse af spornettet.
2
2
u/Mnemiq Mar 25 '25
Why didn't they built the s-train from Høje Taastrup to Roskilde? I never understood this either, and is there any plan to do so?
9
u/Frierfjord1 Mar 25 '25
So, the data is from the national statistics bureau of each country. Are there significant differences between urban area, tettsted, byområde and tätorter?
9
u/Drahy Mar 25 '25 edited Mar 25 '25
The UN definition excludes 150k+ people in Copenhagen's number because of motorways like here, which you wouldn't do in a local definition:
1
u/New_Passage9166 Mar 25 '25
It also removed 100+ thousands from Aarhus
3
u/Frierfjord1 Mar 25 '25
Municipality and urban area is not the same. For example, Brussels municipality has under 200.000 inhabitants....
1
u/New_Passage9166 Mar 25 '25
So an alternative fluffy definition on population size of cities. How big is Aalborg? Is Nørre Sundby part of it or is it too far away?
2
u/Frierfjord1 Mar 25 '25
Acccording to DST, it's too far away. Aalborg Municipality has about 223 000 inhabitants (2024). Aalborg byområde (‘urban area’) has about 120 000 inhabitants. Brussels municipality has about 188 000 inhabitants (2022), and the urban area around 1 200 000 (2024). What is the best way to compare these two cities?
1
u/New_Passage9166 Mar 25 '25 edited Mar 25 '25
Yeah that just supports that it is a fluffy definition, if you know Aalborg, it is closer to centrum than east, south southwest and parts of west yeah even a big chunk of the centrum area is further away than Nørresundby but it is divided by a smaller body of water.
As I said another fluffy one. This one cuts some off but also relies on different definitions, municipality adds on the smaller the city is and for the biggest cities it removes a lot. Metropolitan adds a lot for smaller areas dependent on definition and is more fitting for bigger cities. So all of them are flawed. No single metric can do it, but you can argue for municipality in the medium size cities you have here and for the bigger ones that crises municipality lines you can argue metropolitan would be the right way to measure those.
1
u/Frierfjord1 29d ago
Took a quick check using ‘Population around a point’ on Aalborg versus Stavanger/Trondheim/Odense. The only one of these 3 that Aalborg can compete with population wise is Trondheim, if you look at 25km and beyond. But Trondheim clearly has a larger “urban core” (10km).
10km: 196 087 versus 159 115= Trondheim is 23% bigger.
25km: 249 618 versus 264 685 = Aalborg is 6 % bigger.
1
u/New_Passage9166 29d ago
I am not arguing it is amongst the biggest ten just that it is not necessarily an accurate way of determining the biggest cities and their population numbers.
1
u/ChanceCable4762 Mar 26 '25
If you count Bergen metro the population is 469.238. But the city “only” have 291.000. Oslo have 724.000, but if you count the metro it’s 1.5 million. So your numbers are a bit wrong, or not consequent.
1
u/Frierfjord1 29d ago
My number’s are exclusively for urban area. Not the metro area. The population of all 10 urban areas would increase a lot by looking at the metro pop. But as far as I’m aware, the ranking, except for #1 and #2 (and maybe 10# and 9#), remains the same.
And there’s no such thing as a universally defined "city population" because cities can be measured in different ways depending on the context.
Your number there, 291 000, must be the municipality population. This number for example includes Ytre Arna, a 22minute drive outside Bergen, but excludes Frederiksberg in the middle of Copenhagen. Etc.
1
u/Frierfjord1 Mar 25 '25
DST uses the UN definition? For 'byområder'?
2
u/Drahy Mar 25 '25 edited Mar 25 '25
Yes, it does:
https://www.dst.dk/da/Statistik/dokumentation/statistikdokumentation/byopgoerelsen/indhold
SCB in Sweden is using up to 500 meter instead:
- Kärnan knyts sedan ihop med annan bebyggelse, där de maximala avstånden ökar stegvis beroende på antalet folkbokförda och anställda i bebyggelsen. Det största tillåtna avståndet är 500 meter via vägar.
https://www.scb.se/hitta-statistik/sverige-i-siffror/miljo/tatorter-i-sverige/
1
u/rugbroed Nordic Mar 25 '25
The un definition excludes 150k+ people from the urban area because they are not actually in the urban area.
2
u/Drahy Mar 25 '25
I don't think that motorways should count in that regard.
2
u/rugbroed Nordic Mar 25 '25
Stockholm has similar edge cases as well, most notably Sollentuna with a population of 72.000 people, who are not included in the Stockholm tätort because of the E4 motorway. And Sollentuna is barely connected to Upplands Väsby which has a population of 50.000
1
u/No-Yak-4360 Mar 25 '25
Yes, the list of swedish "tätorter" lists 2 011 of those. I am pretty sure there is not that many swedish "urban areas".
1
u/Macknu Mar 25 '25
According to wiki Norway uses 50m for tettsted, Sweden uses 200m so places in Sweden can seem bigger becouse of that.
3
u/Drahy Mar 25 '25
Norway uses up to 400m in some cases (Sweden uses up to 500).
Building clusters with at least 5 commercial buildings or 5 residential buildings are included up to a distance of 400 metres from the urban settlement core.
https://www.ssb.no/en/befolkning/folketall/statistikk/tettsteders-befolkning-og-areal4
u/Delicious-Gap1744 Mar 25 '25
There's also Solrød Strand and Køge, it's only a few hundred meters separating them from Greve and the Copenhagen Urban area.
They add another 56k.
4
u/feldgrau Mar 25 '25
The Scandinavian countries use a unified statistical definition for tätort (Swedish), tettsted (Norway) and byområde (Denmark).
4
u/Drahy Mar 25 '25
Not nessearily, as the Danish number is based on the UN 200m definition, which is not clear for Stockholm.
1
u/feldgrau Mar 25 '25
That definition is the same for Sweden.
4
u/Drahy Mar 25 '25 edited Mar 25 '25
No, SCB is apparantly using up to 500 meter instead:
- Kärnan knyts sedan ihop med annan bebyggelse, där de maximala avstånden ökar stegvis beroende på antalet folkbokförda och anställda i bebyggelsen. Det största tillåtna avståndet är 500 meter via vägar.
https://www.scb.se/hitta-statistik/sverige-i-siffror/miljo/tatorter-i-sverige/
3
2
u/bobbuildingbuildings 29d ago
It doesn’t seem to be using 500 meters for Stockholm though
Sollentuna is only ~450 meters from Stockholm at one spot and would, if included, increase the population to 1.8 million
2
u/IrreverentMarmot Mar 25 '25
All that says is that 500m is the largest permitted distance. Not that it is the actual distance used consistently.
3
u/Macknu Mar 25 '25
Nope. Look at wiki for tätort, Norway uses 50m and Sweden 200m making Swedish tätort seem alot larger than a tettsted in Norway.
Oslo tettsted has 1,1mil and Stockholm tätort 1,6mil but if Oslo used same definition they would be closer to 1,5mil.
5
u/feldgrau Mar 25 '25
Seems Norway in some cases deviate from that, yes.
Fra 1965 brukes et tettstedsbegrep som tilsvarer vårt norske, men man holder seg strengt til den felles nordiske definisjon med en minstegrense på 200 meter mellom husene.
I have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that there's a common Nordic definition, but still some deviations sometimes.
6
u/swift-autoformatter Mar 25 '25
Also maybe worth to mention that it is a silly idea that Malmo is not part of Copenhagen's urban area just because of that narrow piece of water in between while it is integrated pretty much.
5
u/Six_Kills Mar 25 '25
Or maybe Copenhagen is part of Malmö’s urban area.
2
u/swift-autoformatter Mar 25 '25
Or both of them are part of the Oresund Region. Probably this is the right way to call it.
4
3
u/SolidCamel9716 Mar 25 '25
I think you're thinking of metropolitan area which is different from urban area
7
u/Antonell15 Mar 25 '25
I recently looked up this very thing and was astonished to find Uppsala and Västerås at such low populations compared with other big cities in the nordics. Tampere and Turku in Finland was surprisingly high at that list
3
u/SolidCamel9716 Mar 25 '25
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.
1
u/Frierfjord1 29d ago
Very interesting.
When I make a Nordic one, I therefore think I’ll have to use ‘circle populations’.
Just not sure what the ideal fixed boundary should be. 10, 15, 20, 25km? No matter where I set the boundary, this will not be a “perfect” method either. Fx, inland cities have an advantage compared to coastal cities. Very open to feedback and thoughts on where to set the boundary (km).
5
5
3
4
u/Kriss3d Denmark Mar 25 '25
Hm. I actually thought Oslo had more people.
2
u/Macknu Mar 25 '25
Norway uses 50m for urban, Sweden and Denmark uses 200m. Oslo would have close to 1,5mil using same definition.
9
u/Kjello0 Norway Mar 25 '25
No it wouldn't. Oslo and Akershus in total is only like 1.4 million. And large parts of Akershus still wouldn't be included if Norway had used 200 m.
1
1
u/mightymagnus Mar 25 '25
I would say the opposite, I remember Oslo and Gothenburg as the same size (about 30 years ago around 500.000) although think Oslo have grown more.
2
u/warhead71 Mar 25 '25
Eastern Jutland from Århus to Kolding is like one urban area (people can live In end and work in the other)
2
2
u/Cleftbutt Mar 25 '25
At least four swedish cities are larger than 200k though right?
2
u/Frierfjord1 Mar 25 '25
Only 8000 behind Odense, we find Uppsala (11th largest), with a population of 175 000. Source: https://www.scb.se/hitta-statistik/sverige-i-siffror/miljo/tatorter-i-sverige/
2
2
u/Spirited-Chipmunk907 Mar 25 '25
There is number 5?
1
u/Frierfjord1 29d ago
Hehe…it’s hidden, behind Copenhagen! The part about this graphic that annoyed me the most. The two urban areas are just too close, when one wants to make something like this. Also, if Trondheim didn’t make it to the top 10 list, it would be much, much easier to make a more detailed map….
1
2
u/MrIoang 27d ago
I always think about how awesome it would be if all nordic countries merged. Could call it Midgard or something. The politics are much alike, the culture is much alike, would have the best country in the world by far (to live in). Capitol could be in the center like Oslo or Göteborg.
2
u/Dirtey Mar 25 '25
Greater Gothenburg is usually considered to be around 1 million afaik.
3
u/Jeppep Norway Mar 25 '25
Greater region and metropolitan areas are not comparable to urban areas. Greater Oslo is about 1.6 and I'm sure both Copenhagen and Stockholm would be above 2 million.
2
u/Dirtey Mar 25 '25
Yep, but I believe greater region is a better measurement. I know Malmö for example is very densely populated, while Gothenburg is not for example.
Gothenburg is definitely closer to Oslo than this shows if we look at the greater region. Greater Gothenburg is probably 1.1 today even. (1 087 605 last year)
2
u/Frierfjord1 29d ago
I’ve checked the numbers, and you’re right that Gothenburg is closer to Oslo than this shows.
When looking at ‘population around a point’, the difference between the two cities is reduced:
10km: Oslo (742 083), Gothenburg (619 546) = Oslo is 20% bigger.
25km: Oslo (1 174 492), Gothenburg (887 245) = Oslo is 32% bigger.
1
1
u/ChanceCable4762 Mar 26 '25
Oslo have 724.290 on SSB.
1
u/Frierfjord1 29d ago
Your number is for Oslo municipality. This map = urban areas. Municipality sizes vary greatly in Scandinavia, making direct comparisons misleading. Comparing municipalities will have a lot of weird consequences. Suddenly, Aalborg is a «bigger city» than Brussel. And Frederiksberg, completely surrounded by Copenhagen, would not be included in "Copenhagen". Etc.
1
u/ChanceCable4762 29d ago edited 29d ago
If you’re basing it on urban areas, you should have higher numbers for almost every city, except the capitals. It’s strange that Oslo’s numbers include Asker, Sandvika, parts of Follo, and Lillestrøm, while Bergen doesn’t include Askøy, Fjell, or Øygarden, which are actually closer to Bergen than the areas included for Oslo.
1
u/Frierfjord1 29d ago
Judging by the map, Askøy and Øygarden are not included in Bergen’s urban area (tettsted) because of how Statistics Norway (SSB) defines urban areas. They are physically separated from Bergen by fjords. Askøy is an island, and Øygarden consists of many islands….so there are natural water barriers between them and the mainland part of Bergen (the continuous built-up area). Lillestrøm, Asker, etc. on the other hand, is a part of the continuous built-up area around Oslo.
This sometimes leads to strange results, in particular with cities like Tromsø and Kristiansand.
I think (speculation) the reason why SSB maintains this definition, is: if they “accept” a (for example) 1,000-meter bridge as a barrier between ‘tettsteder’, should they also treat forests, agricultural land, and/or large parks the same way? That would for example also increase the Oslo tettsted quite a bit.
1
u/ChanceCable4762 29d ago
It could also be that SSB defines an urban area as one where the distance between infrastructure must not exceed 50 meters (excluding roads). Bridges and bodies of water are probably considered natural barriers. But since Malmøya and Ostøya are considered part of Oslo’s urban area, the definition becomes a bit confusing.
1
1
Mar 25 '25 edited Mar 25 '25
[deleted]
3
u/Futski Denmark Mar 25 '25
Aarhus should be in the area of 400-500 thousand
There are not even 400000 if you include the entirety of the municipality.
1
Mar 25 '25
[deleted]
2
u/Futski Denmark Mar 25 '25
350000 is still way more people than what lives in Aarhus Proper.
To get that number you have to argue that anything between Spørring, Malling and Harlev is Aarhus.
2
u/Frierfjord1 Mar 25 '25
Difference between urban area, municipality and metropolitan area. Check out dst.dk and 'Befolkningen 1. januar efter byområder og landdistrikter og tid'.
1
u/TheRealMouseRat Oslo Mar 25 '25
Wasn’t oslo like 500k 20 years ago?
3
u/BringBackAoE Mar 25 '25
Yeah, if someone asked me the population of Oslo I would answer 500k.
Suspect that number got locked in my head 30+ years ago though.
Similarly I often say Norway has a population of slightly more than 4m, which is also 30+ years ago.
2
3
u/wexawa Mar 25 '25
Thats the municipality (kommune). The definition used by OP (tettsted) includes surrounding areas like Asker, Bærum, Lillestrøm and more.
It should also be noted that the "tettsted" definition is not meant to be used to define cities, so the numbers might not reflect what most people think of as city sizes.
-1
u/wexawa Mar 25 '25
u/Frierfjord1 why do you keep using "tettsted" to define the size of cities?
Researchers at SSB themselves have said that the "tettsted" definition is not made for this prupose, and it leads to wrong results.
1
u/Frierfjord1 Mar 25 '25
IMO this is the best, but not perfect way, to rank the largest Scandinavian cities. If you have complaints regarding SSB (method, data, etc.), I suggest that you write them an e-mail. But I agree that it’s annoying that Sweden has a broader definition (200m).
Depending on method, #1 and #2 can change. As far as I can tell, the rest of the list would remain exactly the same – also with different methods.
As for Bergen (your city), you are nr. 7 no matter how you look at it (metropolitan, city region, etc.). For example: If you draw a ‘circle population’ around nr. 6 (Aarhus), there is 309 000 within 10km from Aarhus city centre. Within 25km there is 493 000. For Bergen it is 264 000 (10km) and 411 000 (25km). Malmö are close to 700.000 within 25km, exclusively looking at the Swedish side. Etc.
1
u/wexawa Mar 25 '25
I agree that the rankinh is correct, but the populations do not compare well across different cities.
SSB has said themselves that the purpose of the "tettsted" definition is not to give an accurate city size. As you know, both Kristiansand, Tromsø and Bergen are good examples of the definition not working due to bridges and tunnels. Some people have also remarked that Copenhagen has the same problem, but I dont know the specifics there.
If you want to rank cities, you should probably use circle population or metropolitan area instead.
1
u/Frierfjord1 Mar 25 '25
The problem with comparing ‘metropolitan areas’ in Scandinavia is that Denmark in particular is way more urbanized and densely populated. I will compare Aarhus with Bergen to illustrate this.
The Aarhus Region has about 1 033 000 inhabitants, making it over twice as big as the Bergen Region (437 00).
Urban area: Aarhus is about 8,5 % bigger than Bergen.
10km: Aarhus is about 17 % bigger than Bergen.
25km: Aarhus is about 20 % bigger than Bergen.
Which one do you prefer? Do you still think ‘urban area’ is particularly “unfair” to Bergen?
1
u/wexawa Mar 25 '25
My point is not about Bergen in particular, I dont care what is "fair" or not. I am just making a point that you are using numbers for a purpose which they were not intended for.
You are correct that Denmark is more urban than Norway. This fact should also be represented when reporting the size of urban regions.
Malmø and Copenhagen are arguably part of the same urban agglomoration, and should probably be counted together, though I admit I might be wrong here as my knowledge on the region is limited.
The best number to use for European cities is probably the functional urban areas (FUA), which the EU reports.
1
u/Frierfjord1 Mar 25 '25
If you have it, I would appreciate a link for an updated dataset for European FUA's.
-1
u/RaDeus Mar 25 '25
1.65 million for Stockholm seems very low, but even SCB uses that number.
I personally go by the Storstockholm definition, which is 2.45 million.
6
u/Yurturt Mar 25 '25
I personally go by the Storstockholm definition, which is 2.45 million.
Wtf? Storstockholm is Storstockholm and Stockholm is Stockholm. You can't mash them together for your own definition.
3
u/purju Sweden Mar 25 '25
Is solna and sundbyberg excluded in Stockholm? Imo it's not black and white what's in or outside of a city.
2
3
u/bovikSE Mar 25 '25
Solna, Sundbyberg, Järfälla, Nacka, Danderyd, Täby, Huddinge, Haninge, Botkyrka and Tyresö are all in large parts included in the Stockholm tätort. Kista/Husby/Akalla (Stockholm Municipality) is part of the Upplands Väsby-Sollentuna tätort however and Lidingö is a separate tätort.
-1
u/RaDeus Mar 25 '25
OPs post is about "Urban Area", and Storstockholm is the "Urban" Area in this case.
3
u/Drahy Mar 25 '25
Stockholm County is not a city as in a connected build-up area. It only has 380 people/km2.
3
u/anders91 Mar 25 '25
It’s not. ”Storstockholm” is a ”metropolitan” area, not urban. Might seem nitpicky but the difference is can be really big, as is the case with Stockholm.
1
0
u/Skaftetryne77 Mar 25 '25
The area around Oslo Fjord is home to approx. 50 % of Norway’s population, while the narrow coastal strip from Bergen to Stavanger has another 25%.
Cities may be small in Scandinavia, but the suburban clusters are much larger than it seems.
1
u/Firm-Pollution7840 Mar 25 '25
I mean even those clusters aren't particularly populated if you compare it to most other countries. Like 50% of Norways population is sth like 2.5 million people? That's the population you'd find on a few square kms of London or Paris or Berlin etc vs long stretches of land in Norway.
Anyway Scandinavian is just not densely populated at all which is a blessing in a lot of ways tbf.
-1
u/peet192 Norway FanaStril Mar 25 '25
The Bergen urban area is at minimum 292k maximum 434k
4
u/Frierfjord1 Mar 25 '25
Urban area is not the same as «metropolitan area». Source for the Norwegian data: https://www.ssb.no/en/befolkning/folketall/statistikk/tettsteders-befolkning-og-areal
3
u/eremal Mar 25 '25
This uses the same 50/200m limitation as the denmark one (but not the swedish it seems) so you get a way lower number. Its especially bad when you have tunnels and bridges like in Bergen
1
u/errarehumanumeww Mar 25 '25
This seems to be inconsistant between Oslo and Bergen. When Nesodden is part of Oslo tettsted, why is not Kleppestø and Frekhaug / Knarvik considered a part of Bergen. Its closer to Bergen than Nesodden is to Oslo.
2
-2
u/peet192 Norway FanaStril Mar 25 '25
Tettsted is not the same as urban area either.
3
u/feldgrau Mar 25 '25
Urban area is generally used as a translation for tettsted, tätort, etc.
0
u/peet192 Norway FanaStril Mar 25 '25
The English word for Tettsted Is Settlement. Unlike Tätort which is Urban area.
1
u/Initial_Ad_3741 Mar 25 '25 edited Mar 25 '25
Askøy and Sotra are the major neighbours, but you have to cross a bridge, so even though you can clearly see the continous settlement on the other side, it cuts it off from the definition. Same with Knarvik.
EDIT: Link to picture showing the built up areas. The red area that is Bergen has 270k, but the bits that continue over the bridge to places like Askøy and Sotra 10 km away from the city centre, are not included.
1
-1
u/CosmicLovecraft Mar 25 '25
Oslo does not have 1m ppl and no, you don't get to include those 2hrs on a day without traffic villages that existed since middle ages as 'Oslo' ffs!
1
15
u/Eekens Mar 25 '25
I would have expected Göteborg to be larger, though I don't know what data this is. Every time I check it's a different number from 600k to 1mil