Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

has three

metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban area, urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing Industry (economics), industries, commercial areas, Transport infrastructure, transport net ...

s consisting of the areas surrounding the three largest cities,

Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropol ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has a ...

and

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal popul ...

. The statistics have been retrieved from

Statistics Sweden Statistics Sweden ( sv, Statistiska centralbyrån ; SCB) is the Swedish government agency operating under the Ministry of Finance and responsible for producing official statistics for decision-making, debate and research. The agency's responsibi ...

and the statistics released on 10 November 2014. The official land areas for each municipality have also been retrieved from

, the agency that defines these areas.

Population centers

, Sweden had 2 metropolitan areas with a population of over 1,000,000 people each. The following table shows the populations of the top ten metropolitan areas.

Metropolitan Stockholm

GamlaStan from Katarinahissen Stockholm Swe

Metropolitan Stockholm (also known as Greater Stockholm or, in Swedish, ''Storstockholm''), is a

surrounding the Swedish capital of Stockholm. Since 2005, Metropolitan Stockholm is defined by official Swedish Statistics as all of

Stockholm County Stockholm County ( sv, Stockholms län, link=no ) is a county or ''län'' (in Swedish) on the Baltic Sea coast of Sweden. It borders Uppsala County and Södermanland County. It also borders Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The city of Stockhol ...

.SCB Statistics Sweden – Regional Divisions in Sweden published in 2005
/ref> It is the largest of the three metropolitan areas in Sweden. Metropolitan Stockholm is divided into 5 areas: Stockholm City Centre, Söderort, Västerort of Stockholm Municipality; and the northern suburbs and southern suburbs, which consists of several municipalities. km²
Population per km²

Metropolitan Gothenburg

Gothenburg, Sweden, from the Älsborgs Bridge

Metropolitan Gothenburg (''Storgöteborg'' or literally Greater Gothenburg), is a metropolitan area surrounding the city of

. The metropolitan region is located in

Västra Götaland County Västra Götaland County ( sv, Västra Götalands län) is a county or ''län'' on the western coast of Sweden. The county is the second most populous of Sweden's counties and it comprises 49 municipalities (''kommuner''). Its population of 1, ...

, except for the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the g ...

of Kungsbacka, which is located to the south in

Halland County Halland County ( sv, Hallands län, link=no, ) is a county (''län'') on the western coast of Sweden. It corresponds roughly to the cultural and historical province of Halland. The capital is Halmstad. It borders the counties of Västra Göta ...

. As of 2005, the municipalities of

Alingsås Alingsås () is a locality and the seat of Alingsås Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 24,482 inhabitants in 2010. Geography Geographically the city is situated by the outlet of the small rivulet Säveån into lake Mjör ...

and

Lilla Edet Lilla Edet is a locality and the seat of Lilla Edet Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 4,862 inhabitants in 2010. Lilla Edet was the smallest of three settlements that were burnt down in Sweden on 25 June 1888. The wooden t ...

were added to the region. The region is often used for statistical measures, and estimates in the 1960s predicted that the region would have about one million inhabitants in the year 2000. The region is the second largest metropolitan area in Sweden after Metropolitan Stockholm. km²
Population per km²

Metropolitan Malmö

Greater Malmö (''Stormalmö''), also known as Metropolitan Malmö is the

. The area is located in Southwestern

Scania Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous with Skån ...

(''Sydvästra Skåne''), which is often considered synonymous with Greater Malmö, and it is part of the wider transnational Öresund Region. Besides Malmö, large towns in Greater Malmö includes

Lund Lund (, , ) is a city in the southern Swedish province of Scania, across the Öresund strait from Copenhagen. The town had 91,940 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 121,510 . It is the seat of Lund Municipality, Scania County. The Öres ...

and

Trelleborg Trelleborg () is a town in Skåne County, Sweden, with 43,359 inhabitants as of December 31, 2015. It is the southernmost town in Sweden located some west from the southernmost point of Sweden and the Scandinavian peninsula. It is one of the ...

, the former of which was the seat of the historical Catholic Archdiocese of Lund. Since the

1970s File:1970s decade montage.jpg, Clockwise from top left: U.S. President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office following the Watergate scandal in 1974; The United States was still involved in the Vietnam War ...

, improvements in

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-acces ...

s and the

regional In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and ...

and InterRegio train networks means the commuting area has grown to include

Ystad Ystad (; older da, Ysted) is a town and the seat of Ystad Municipality, in Scania County, Sweden. Ystad had 18,350 inhabitants in 2010. The settlement dates from the 11th century and has become a busy ferryport, local administrative centre, ...

Skurup Skurup is a locality and the seat of Skurup Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of Sw ...

, Sjöbo, Eslöv, Höör, Landskrona and

Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , , ) is a city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and ninth-largest in Sweden, with a population of 113,816 (2020). Helsingborg is the ce ...

, though only some of these are included in official definitions of Greater Malmö. It's not uncommon to live in Malmö and work either in Ystad or Helsingborg, or vice versa, but these towns have kept their mental allegiance with older divisions of Scania. Commuting across the Öresund has become more common, both through the

Øresund Bridge The Öresund or Øresund Bridge ( da, Øresundsbroen ; sv, Öresundsbron ; hybrid name: ) is a combined railway and motorway bridge across the Øresund strait between Denmark and Sweden. It is the longest in Europe with both roadway and ra ...

and the

HH Ferry route HH may refer to: Organizations * Happy Hippie Foundation, a non-profit organization founded by Miley Cyrus * Hartmann House Preparatory School, an independent preparatory school in Harare, Zimbabwe * Heirs Holdings, a Nigerian conglomerate with ...

, at which car ferries departs every 12 minutes in summer (every 15 minutes in winter).

, which sets the official definitions for all metropolitan areas in Sweden, has changed which

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the g ...

are included in Greater Malmö over time. The most recent change to the definition came in 2006, when Eslöv, Höör, and

Municipalities became part of Greater Malmö, bringing the number of municipalities included from 9 to 12.

Population centers

Metropolitan Stockholm

Metropolitan Gothenburg

Metropolitan Malmö

See also