Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

(german: Köln) is Germany's fourth-largest city and the largest city in the Rhineland. As of 31 December 2011, there were officially 1,017,155 residents. The city is center of the Cologne/Bonn Region with around 3 million inhabitants (including the neighboring cities of

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

Hürth Hürth is a town in the Rhein-Erft-Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Hürth shares borders with the city of Cologne and is about 6 km to the southwest of Cologne city centre, at the northeastern slope of the natural preserve Kott ...

Leverkusen Leverkusen () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, on the eastern bank of the Rhine. To the south, Leverkusen borders the city of Cologne, and to the north the state capital, Düsseldorf. With about 161,000 inhabitants, Leverkusen is o ...

, and Bergisch Gladbach).

Population by district

Cologne subdivisions numbered grey faded out

Population by migration background

¹ largest groups from Italy, Poland and Greece
² largest groups from Morocco and Algeria
³ largest group from Iran

Population by age

Historic population data

Roman Cologne

The walls of Colonia Agrippina covered an area of 96.8 hectares,J.C. Russell, "Late Ancient and Medieval Population," in ''Transactions of the American Philosophical Society'', vol. 48, part 3, table 89. but the population density within the walls remains uncertain.

Medieval Cologne

Since the construction of the Medieval wall in 1180, the area of the old

imperial city In the Holy Roman Empire, the collective term free and imperial cities (german: Freie und Reichsstädte), briefly worded free imperial city (', la, urbs imperialis libera), was used from the fifteenth century to denote a self-ruling city that ...

of Cologne has not changed for more than 600 years and was only extended over the old city walls in 1794, just short before the arrival of French troops and Cologne's incorporation into the

First French Empire The First French Empire, officially the French Republic, then the French Empire (; Latin: ) after 1809, also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental E ...

Modern Cologne

16th through 19th century

Köln-und-Deutz-nach-Wenzeslaw-Hollar-von-Prachna-1636

After 1815, the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...

enforced the construction of fortifications which again hindered any growth for the city. Only with the acquisition of these fortifications in 1881, the city of Cologne had the possibility of a gradual territorial expansion. On 12. November 1883 a strip of territory from parts of the municipalities of Ehrenfeld, Kriel, Longerich, Müngersdorf and Rondorf was added to the city. Since 1886, the

Cologne City Council The City Hall (german: link=no, Kölner wikt:Rathaus, Rathaus) is a historical building in Cologne, western Germany. It is located off Hohe Straße in the district of Innenstadt, Cologne, Innenstadt, and set between the two squares of Rathausplatz ...

intensified negotiations with the surrounding communities, and on 1 April 1888 ended in a first major incorporation.

20th century

The territorial expansion, beginning in the late 19th century, were significant marks for the city's population growth. Major communal reorganizations took place in 1910, 1914, 1922 and 1975.

21st century

{, , valign="top" , {, class="wikitable" ! style="background:#efefef;" , Date ! style="background:#efefef;" , Population , - , 31. December 2001 , , align="right" , 967.940 , - , 31. December 2002 , , align="right" , 968.639 , - , 31. December 2003 , , align="right" , 965.954 , - , 31. December 2004 , , align="right" , 969.709 , - , 31. December 2005 , , align="right" , 983.347 , - , 31. December 2006 , , align="right" , 989.766 , - , 31. December 2007 , , align="right" , 995.397 , - , 31. December 2008 , , align="right" , 995.420 , - , 31. December 2009 , , align="right" , 998.105 , - , 31. December 2010 , , align="right" , 1.007.119 , - , valign="top" , {, class="wikitable" ! style="background:#efefef;" , Date ! style="background:#efefef;" , Population , - , 31. December 2011 , , align="right" , 1.013.665 , - , 31. December 2012 , , align="right" , 1.024.373 , - , 31. December 2013 , , align="right" , 1.034.175 , - , 31. December 2014 , , align="right" , 1.046.680 , - , 31. December 2015 , , align="right" , 1.060.582 {{increase

References

History of Cologne