Largest Cities in the EU by Population

Key Takeaways

• Paris ranks as the largest city among the EU countries with 2022 population data. Its greater-city population of 10.35 million exceeds Madrid’s and Barcelona’s combined.
• Germany, Italy, and Spain each place three or more cities among the EU’s 20 largest cities by population. 
• Germany leads with four of the EU’s largest cities by population: Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, and Cologne.
• Only 6.5% of Germans lived in Berlin in January 2023. Germany’s population spreads across many mid-sized cities instead of concentrating in one dominant capital.
• City-size patterns across the EU trace back to how power was historically shared within each country. France kept power in one capital, while Germany spread power across many regions instead.

EU Cities With the Largest Populations

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Paris’s Population Gap Traces to France’s Centralized Political History

Paris ranks first among the largest EU cities by population. Its greater-city population reached 10.35 million in January 2022. 

Paris’ total population is larger than the combined populations of Madrid (5.03 million) and Barcelona (3.72 million). 

Paris’s greater-city population is 2.8 times larger than Berlin’s. Berlin ranks fourth among the EU’s largest cities by population.

Paris’s dominance reflects a monocentric pattern. It is where political and economic power concentrates in one capital rather than spreading across several cities.

Metropolitan regions show the same monocentric pattern.

Metropolitan-region population counts people across a wider area. It is shaped by commuting patterns rather than city or greater-city boundaries. 

In January 2023, Paris’s metropolitan region held 3.9 times as many people as Marseille’s. Marseille is France’s second-largest metropolitan region.

Hungary and Austria follow the same monocentric model. Each country’s capital-region population dwarfed its second-largest metropolitan region:

• Budapest: 2.9 mil. people, about 4.8 times Miskolc’s 0.62 million
• Vienna: 3.0 mil. people, about 3.6 times Linz’s 0.82 million

Germany Places The Most Cities in the EU’s 20 Largest Cities by Population

Germany places four cities among the EU’s 20 largest population:

• Berlin: 3.68 million
• Hamburg: 1.85 million
• Munich: 1.49 million
• Cologne: 1.07 million

Berlin is Germany’s largest city. However, it ranks only fourth among the EU’s 20 largest cities by population.

Germany’s population spreads across many mid-sized cities instead of concentrating in one capital. Only 6.5% of Germans lived in Berlin in January 2023.

Berlin’s 6.5% share is far smaller than the capital-region shares in France, Hungary, or Austria.

Germany, Italy, and Poland are the EU’s only large countries where less than one-tenth of the national population lives in the capital region.

Most and Least Populated Countries in Europe ->

Italy also places multiple cities among the EU’s 20 largest cities by population.

• Milan: 3.57 million
• Naples: 2.82 million
• Rome: 2.75 million

Spain also places three cities among the EU’s 20 largest cities by population: Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia. Together, these three cities hold about 2.1 million more people than Germany’s four cities combined.

Centuries of political history shape where a country’s population concentrates. It is not just where its city borders happen to sit.

Monocentric countries like France, Hungary, and Austria built their political and economic life around one dominant capital.

In contrast to monocentric countries, countries like Germany are federally structured and historically fragmented. Their population is spread across many regional centers instead. Italy follows Germany’s pattern too.

Germany and Italy’s shared polycentric pattern explains why both place several cities in this ranking rather than one dominant one.