- Largest metropolitan areas in the Nordic countries
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The largest metropolitan areas in the Nordic countries are difficult to rank in size because the definition patterns are different from country to country.
By any definition, the metropolitan areas of Copenhagen and Stockholm will rank in top, but it is debatable which one is bigger. For example, Metropolitan Stockholm includes vast rural areas, whereas the Stockholm urban area covers only the continuously built-up area. There are various common definitions of Metropolitan Copenhagen: the former Danish Capital Region/Copenhagen metropolitan area (defunct), followed by the smaller Capital Region of Denmark, or the yet smaller Metropolitan Copenhagen.
The East Jutland metropolitan area was in 2006 defined in reports from the Danish government as one coherent urban area. the biggest reason for this is the growth that municipalities along the E45 motorway are experiencing.
Similarly, some other metropolitan areas are not defined by any fixed guidelines but rather by an estimate of economical and commuter ties between one or several cities and the surrounding region. In some cases, towns have coined names for new metropolitan regions for PR purposes.
Contrarily, the largest urban areas in the Nordic countries can be ranked by more general criteria.
Largest metropolitan areas
Rank Metropolitan Area Country Main city Population Area (km²) Population density Image 1. Metropolitan Stockholm[1][2] 
SwedenStockholm 2,073,952 6,519 km² 318.1/km² 
2. Copenhagen metropolitan area 
DenmarkCopenhagen 1,901,789 3,030 km² 627.7/km² 
3. Greater Oslo Region 
NorwayOslo 1,422,443 8,900 km² 160/km² 
4. Greater Helsinki 
FinlandHelsinki 1,325,501 3 563.6 km² 368.5/km² 
5. East Jutland metropolitan area[3] DenmarkAarhus 1,245,046 9,997 km² 124/km² 
6. Metropolitan Gothenburg[4] SwedenGothenburg 928,629 3,717 km² 249.8/km² 
7. Metropolitan Malmö[5][6] SwedenMalmö 656,355 2,536 km² 258.8/km² 
8. Greater Bergen Region NorwayBergen 375,489 2,755 km² 136/km² 
9. Tampere sub-region FinlandTampere 341,131 3,776.16 km² 90.4/km² 
10. Turku sub-region FinlandTurku 303,492 2,331 km² 130.2/km² 
11. Stavanger Region NorwayStavanger 275,814 2,598 km² 106/km² 
12. Trondheim Region NorwayTrondheim 260,364 7,295 km² 35/km² 
13. Oulu sub-region FinlandOulu 212,045 5,451 km² 39/km² 
14. Greater Reykjavík Area 
IcelandReykjavik 198,782 1,042 km² 187.4/km² 
15. Mjøsa Cities NorwayRingsaker 175,453 6,026 km² 29/km² 
16. Lahti sub-region FinlandLahti 170,403 3,804 km² 44.8/km² 
See also
- List of urban areas in the Nordic countries
- List of the most populated municipalities in the Nordic countries
- List of metropolitan areas in Sweden
References
- ^ http://www.scb.se/Pages/TableAndChart____252872.aspx
- ^ http://www.scb.se/Grupp/Hitta_statistik/Regional%20statistik/Indelningar/_Dokument/Storstadsomr.pdf
- ^ http://www.aarhuscity-info.dk/faktaomaarhus.html
- ^ http://www.scb.se/statistik/_publikationer/OV9999_2004A01_BR_X20OP0502.pdf
- ^ http://www.scb.se/Pages/TableAndChart____252872.aspx
- ^ http://www.scb.se/Grupp/Hitta_statistik/Regional%20statistik/Indelningar/_Dokument/Storstadsomr.pdf
Categories:- Demographics of Denmark
- Demographics of Finland
- Demographics of Iceland
- Demographics of Norway
- Demographics of Sweden
- Lists of cities in Scandinavia
- Lists of metropolitan areas by population
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- Populated places in Iceland
- Populated places in Sweden
- Cities and towns in Denmark
- Cities and towns in Norway
- Denmark-related lists
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