European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
according to the population within their
city boundary
City limits or city boundaries refer to the defined boundary or border of a city. The area within the city limit can be called the city proper. Town limit/boundary and village limit/boundary apply to towns and villages. Similarly, corporate lim ...
. The cities listed all have populations over 300,000. The list deals exclusively with the areas within city administrative boundaries as opposed to
urban areas
An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, ...
or
larger urban zone
The larger urban zone (LUZ), or functional urban area (FUA), is a measure of the population and expanse of metropolitan and surrounding areas which may or may not be exclusively urban. It consists of a city and its commuting zone outside it.
The ...
s (metropolitan areas), which are generally larger in terms of population than the main city.
As some cities have a very narrow boundary and others a very wide, the list may not give an accurate view of the comparative magnitude of different places, and the figures in the list should be treated with caution.
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
is the most populous urban area in the European Union, but the strict definition of the administrative limits of the City of Paris results in a far lower population shown in the table. Likewise the
City of Brussels
The City of Brussels (french: Ville de Bruxelles or alternatively ''Bruxelles-Ville'' ; nl, Stad Brussel or ''Brussel-Stad'') is the largest municipality and historical centre of the Brussels-Capital Region, as well as the capital of the Fl ...
municipality is so much smaller than the greater
Brussels Capital Region
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
that it does not reach the population threshold to be listed here.
Cities by population within the city boundary
Cities in bold are capital cities of their respective countries.
See also
*
List of European cities by population within city limits
The largest cities in Europe according to the population within their city boundary have populations over 1 million inhabitants. Cities are sorted by official population. Capital cities are in bold. The list deals exclusively with the areas within ...
List of larger urban zones
The larger urban zone (LUZ), or functional urban area (FUA), is a measure of the population and expanse of metropolitan and surrounding areas which may or may not be exclusively urban. It consists of a city and its commuting zone outside it.
The ...
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...