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Urban Definition Used in a Sentence

Human settlement with high population density and infrastructure of built environment

"Urban agglomeration" redirects here. For city clusters, see Megalopolis.

Greater Tokyo Area, Japan, the world's most populated urban area, with about 38 million inhabitants

An urban area, or built-up area, 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, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbanism, the term contrasts to rural areas such as villages and hamlets; in urban sociology or urban anthropology it contrasts with natural environment. The creation of early predecessors of urban areas during the urban revolution led to the creation of human civilization with modern urban planning, which along with other human activities such as exploitation of natural resources led to a human impact on the environment. "Agglomeration effects" are in the list of the main consequences of increased rates of firm creation since. This is due to conditions created by a greater level of industrial activity in a given region. However, a favorable environment for human capital development would also be generated simultaneously.[1]

The world's urban population in 1950 of just 746 million has increased to 3.9 billion in the decades since.[2] In 2009, the number of people living in urban areas (3.42 billion) surpassed the number living in rural areas (3.41 billion), and since then the world has become more urban than rural.[3] This was the first time that the majority of the world's population lived in a city.[4] In 2014 there were 7.3 billion people living on the planet,[5] of which the global urban population comprised 3.9 billion. The Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs at that time predicted the urban population would grow to 6.4 billion by 2050, with 37% of that growth to come from three countries: China, India and Nigeria.[2]

The UN publishes data on cities, urban areas and rural areas, but relies almost entirely on national definitions of these areas. The UN principles and recommendations state that due to different characteristics of urban and rural areas across the globe, a global definition is not possible.[6]

Urban areas are created and further developed by the process of urbanization. Urban areas are measured for various purposes, including analyzing population density and urban sprawl.

Unlike an urban area, a metropolitan area includes not only the urban area, but also satellite cities plus intervening rural land that is socio-economically connected to the urban core city, typically by employment ties through commuting, with the urban core city being the primary labor market.

The concept of an "urban area" as used in economic statistics should not be confused with the concept of the "urban area" used in road safety statistics. The last concept is also known as "built-up area in road safety". According to the definition by the Office for National Statistics, "Built-up areas are defined as land which is 'irreversibly urban in character', meaning that they are characteristic of a town or city. They include areas of built-up land with a minimum of 20 hectares (200,000 m2; 49 acres). Any areas [separated by] less than 200 metres [of non-urban space] are linked to become a single built-up area.[7]

Urban land area (km2), 2010[8]

Urban areas with at least one million inhabitants in 2006

Definitions [edit]

European countries[ which? ] define urbanized areas on the basis of urban-type land use, not allowing any gaps of typically more than 200 metres (220 yd), and use satellite imagery instead of census blocks to determine the boundaries of the urban area. In less-developed countries[ which? ], in addition to land use and density requirements, a requirement that a large majority of the population, typically 75%, is not engaged in agriculture and/or fishing is sometimes used.[ citation needed ]

East Asia [edit]

China [edit]

Since 2000, China's cities have expanded at an average rate of 10% annually. It is estimated that China's urban population will increase by 292 million people by 2050,[2] when its cities will house a combined population of over one billion.[9] The country's urbanization rate increased from 17.4% to 46.6% between 1978 and 2009.[10] Between 150 and 200 million migrant workers work part-time in the major cities, returning home to the countryside periodically with their earnings.[11] [12]

Today, China has more cities with one million or more long-term residents than any other country, including the three global cities of Beijing, Hong Kong, and Shanghai; by 2025, the country will be home to 221 cities with over a million inhabitants.[9] The figures in the table below are from the 2008 census, and are only estimates of the urban populations within administrative city limits; a different ranking exists when considering the total municipal populations (which includes suburban and rural populations). The large "floating populations" of migrant workers make conducting censuses in urban areas difficult;[13] the figures below include only long-term residents.

Japan [edit]

In Japan urbanized areas are defined as contiguous areas of densely inhabited districts (DIDs) using census enumeration districts as units with a density requirement of 4,000 inhabitants per square kilometre (10,000/sq mi).

South Asia [edit]

India [edit]

For the Census of India 2011, the definition of urban area is a place having a minimum population of 5,000 of density 400 persons per square kilometre (1,000/sq mi) or higher, and 75% plus of the male working population employed in non-agricultural activities. Places administered by a municipal corporation, cantonment board or notified town area committee are automatically considered urban areas.[14]

The Census of India 2011 also defined the term "urban agglomeration" as an integrated urban area consisting of a core town together with its "outgrowths" (contiguous suburbs).[15]

Largest urban agglomerations in India by population

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(2011 census)[16] [17]

Mumbai
Mumbai
Delhi
Delhi
Kolkata
Kolkata
Chennai
Chennai
Bangalore
Bangalore
Hyderabad
Hyderabad

 Rank City Name State/Territory Population Rank City Name State/Territory Population

Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad
Pune
Pune
Surat
Surat
Jaipur
Jaipur
Kanpur
Kanpur
Lucknow
Lucknow
1 Mumbai Maharashtra 18,394,912 28 Ludhiana Punjab 1,618,879
2 Delhi Delhi 16,349,831 29 Nashik Maharashtra 1,562,769
3 Kolkata West Bengal 14,112,536 30 Vijayawada Andhra Pradesh 1,491,202
4 Chennai Tamil Nadu 8,696,010 31 Madurai Tamil Nadu 1,465,625
5 Bengaluru Karnataka 8,520,435 32 Varanasi Uttar Pradesh 1,435,113
6 Hyderabad Telangana 7,749,334 33 Meerut Uttar Pradesh 1,424,908
7 Ahmedabad Gujarat 6,361,084 34 Faridabad Haryana 1,414,050
8 Pune Maharashtra 5,057,709 35 Rajkot Gujarat 1,390,933
9 Surat Gujarat 4,591,246 36 Jamshedpur Jharkhand 1,339,438
10 Jaipur Rajasthan 3,073,350 37 Srinagar Jammu and Kashmir 1,273,312
11 Kanpur Uttar Pradesh 2,920,496 38 Jabalpur Madhya Pradesh 1,268,848
12 Lucknow Uttar Pradesh 2,902,920 39 Asansol West Bengal 1,243,414
13 Nagpur Maharashtra 2,497,870 40 Vasai-Virar Maharashtra 1,222,390
14 Ghaziabad Uttar Pradesh 2,375,820 41 Allahabad Uttar Pradesh 1,216,719
15 Indore Madhya Pradesh 2,170,295 42 Dhanbad Jharkhand 1,196,214
16 Coimbatore Tamil Nadu 2,151,466 43 Aurangabad Maharashtra 1,193,167
17 Kochi Kerala 2,119,724 44 Amritsar Punjab 1,183,705
18 Patna Bihar 2,049,156 45 Jodhpur Rajasthan 1,138,300
19 Kozhikode Kerala 2,030,519 46 Ranchi Jharkhand 1,126,741
20 Bhopal Madhya Pradesh 1,886,100 47 Raipur Chhattisgarh 1,123,558
21 Thrissur Kerala 1,861,269 48 Kollam Kerala 1,110,668
22 Vadodara Gujarat 1,822,221 49 Gwalior Madhya Pradesh 1,102,884
23 Agra Uttar Pradesh 1,760,285 50 Bhilai Chhattisgarh 1,064,222
24 Visakhapatnam Andhra Pradesh 1,730,320 51 Chandigarh Chandigarh 1,026,459
25 Malappuram Kerala 1,699,060 52 Tiruchirappalli Tamil Nadu 1,022,518
26 Thiruvananthapuram Kerala 1,687,406 53 Kota Rajasthan 1,001,694
27 Kannur Kerala 1,642,892 54 Mysore Karnataka 990,900

Pakistan [edit]

In Pakistan, an area is a major city and municipality if it has more than 100,000 inhabitants according to census results. Cities include adjacent cantonments. Urbanisation in Pakistan has increased since the time of independence and has several different causes. The majority of southern Pakistan's population lives along the Indus River. Karachi is its most populous city.[18] In the northern half of the country, most of the population lives in an arc formed by the cities of Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Gujrat, Jhelum, Sargodha, Sheikhupura, Nowshera, Mardan and Peshawar. During 1990–2008, city dwellers made up 36% of Pakistan's population, making it the most urbanised nation in South Asia. Furthermore, 50% of Pakistanis live in towns of 5,000 people or more.[19] Karachi is the most populated city in Pakistan closely followed by Lahore according to the 2017 Census.

Bangladesh [edit]

In Bangladesh, there are total 532 urban areas, which are divided into three categories. Those are City Corporation, Municipal Corporation (Pourasova) and Upazila town. Among those urban areas, Dhaka is the largest city by population and area, with a population of 19.10 million.[20] In Bangladesh, there are total 11 City Corporations and 329 Municipal Corporations and 203 Small towns, which serves as the center for Upazilas. According to 2011 population census, Bangladesh has an urban population of 28%, with a growth rate of 2.8%.[21] At this growth rate, it is estimated that the urban population of Bangladesh will reach 79 million or 42% of total population by 2035.

Southeast Asia [edit]

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Largest cities in Southeast Asia

Demographia 2020
Rank Name Country Pop. Rank Name Country Pop.
Jakarta
Jakarta
Manila
Manila 		1 Jakarta Indonesia 34,540,000 11 Medan Indonesia 3,632,000 Bangkok
Bangkok
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City
2 Manila Philippines 23,088,000 12 Cebu City Philippines 2,275,000
3 Bangkok Thailand 17,066,000 13 Phnom Penh Cambodia 2,177,000
4 Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam 13,312,000 14 Semarang Indonesia 1,992,000
5 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia 8,285,000 15 Johor Bahru Malaysia 1,981,000
6 Bandung Indonesia 7,065,000 16 Makassar Indonesia 1,952,000
7 Hanoi Vietnam 6,576,000 17 Palembang Indonesia 1,889,000
8 Surabaya Indonesia 6,499,000 18 Mandalay Myanmar 1,633,000
9 Yangon Myanmar 6,314,000 19 Hai Phong Vietnam 1,623,000
10 Singapore Singapore 5,745,000 20 Yogyakarta Indonesia 1,568,000

Philippines [edit]

With an estimated population of 16.3 million, Metro Manila is the most populous metropolitan area in the Philippines and the 11th in the world. However, the greater urban area is the 5th largest in the world with a population of 20,654,307 people (2010 estimate).[22]

Singapore [edit]

As an island city-state, about 5.6 million people live and work within 700 square kilometres (270 sq mi). With 64 islands and islets, Singapore Island makes up the largest urban area in the country. According to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, the country has the highest urbanised population in Southeast Asia, with 100 percent of its population living in an urban area.[23] The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is responsible for the urban land-use planning, which designates land use and urban density of the country.[24] The country is divided into 5 regions for planning purposes by the URA, even though as a city state Singapore is defined as a single continuous urban area. It is further subdivided into 55 urban planning areas, which acts as the boundaries of planned towns within the country.[25]

Vietnam [edit]

In Vietnam, there are 6 types of urban areas:

  • Special urban area (2 municipalities): Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
  • Type I urban area (18 provincial cities and 3 municipalities): Long Xuyên, Pleiku, Mỹ Tho, Thủ Dầu Một, Bắc Ninh, Biên Hòa, Hải Dương, Thanh Hóa, Hạ Long, Việt Trì, Thái Nguyên, Nam Định, Vũng Tàu, Buôn Ma Thuột, Đà Lạt, Quy Nhơn, Nha Trang, Huế, Vinh, Cần Thơ, Đà Nẵng and Hải Phòng.
  • Type II urban area (21 provincial cities and 1 district):Châu Đốc, Đồng Hới, Uông Bí, Bắc Giang, Ninh Bình, Bạc Liêu, Bà Rịa, Thái Bình, Rạch Giá, Cà Mau, Phan Rang–Tháp Chàm, Tuy Hòa, Phan Thiết, Vĩnh Yên, Lào Cai and Phú Quốc.
  • Type III urban area (31 provincial cities and 12 towns).
  • Type IV urban area (35 towns and 35 townships).
  • Type V urban area (586 townships and 54 communes).

Europe [edit]

Finland [edit]

A street sign indicating the beginning of an urban area in Finland. The picture was taken in Vimpeli.

As in other Nordic countries, an urban area (taajama in Finnish) in Finland must have a building at least every 200 m (660 ft) and at least 200 people. To be considered a town or a city (kaupunki) for statistical purposes, an urban area must have at least 15,000 people. This is not to be confused with the city / town designation used by municipalities.[26] [27]

France [edit]

In France, an urban area (Fr: aire urbaine) is a zone encompassing an area of built-up growth (called an "urban unit" (unité urbaine)[28] – close in definition to the North American urban area) and its commuter belt (couronne). Americans would find the INSEE definition of the urban area[29] to be similar to their metropolitan area, and the INSEE sometimes uses the term aire métropolitaine [30] to refer to the country's largest aires urbaines.

The largest cities in France, in terms of urban area population (2017), are Paris (12,628,266), Lyon (2,323,221), Marseille (1,760,653), Toulouse (1,360,829), Bordeaux (1,247,977), Lille (1,191,117), Nice (1,006,201), Nantes (972,828), Strasbourg (790,087) and Rennes (733,320).[31]

Panorama of Paris as seen from the Eiffel Tower as full 360-degree view (river flowing from north-east to south-west, right to left)

Germany [edit]

Germany has a number of large cities. The largest conurbation is the Rhine-Ruhr region (11 million in 2008[update]), including Düsseldorf (the capital of North Rhine-Westphalia), Cologne, Bonn, Dortmund, Essen, Duisburg, and Bochum.[32]

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Largest urban agglomerations in Germany

Federal Statistical Office of Germany (31 December 2017)
Rank Name State Pop. Rank Name State Pop.
Rhine-Ruhr
Rhine-Ruhr
Berlin
Berlin 		1 Rhine-Ruhr North Rhine-Westphalia 11,108,117 11 Chemnitz Saxony 873,745 Rhine-Main
Rhine-Main
Stuttgart
Stuttgart
2 Berlin Berlin 4,544,525 12 Hanover Lower Saxony 796,298
3 Rhine-Main Hesse 3,146,343 13 Dresden Saxony 790,534
4 Stuttgart Baden-Württemberg 3,016,208 14 Saar Saarland 758,249
5 Munich Bavaria 2,374,272 15 Bremen Bremen 664,603
6 Hamburg Hamburg 2,342,356 16 Aachen North Rhine-Westphalia 655,276
7 Rhine-Neckar Baden-Württemberg 1,410,711 17 Karlsruhe Baden-Württemberg 611,319
8 Nuremberg Bavaria 1,228,597 18 Augsburg Bavaria 543,503
9 Leipzig Saxony 1,038,996 19 Freiburg im Breisgau Baden-Württemberg 332,013
10 Bielefeld North Rhine-Westphalia 929,005 20 Kassel Hesse 330,654

Netherlands [edit]

The Netherlands is the 30th most densely populated country in the world, with 404.6 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,048/sq mi)—or 497 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,287/sq mi) if only the land area is counted. The Randstad is the country's largest conurbation located in the west of the country and contains the four largest cities: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht. The Randstad has a population of 7 million inhabitants and is the 6th largest metropolitan area in Europe.

Sweden [edit]

Urban areas in Sweden (tätorter) are statistically defined localities, totally independent of the administrative subdivision of the country. There are 1,956 such localities in Sweden, with a population ranging from 200 to 1,372,000 inhabitants.[33]

United Kingdom [edit]

In 2013 the United Kingdom's Office for National Statistics (ONS) published 2011 Built-up Areas - Methodology and Guidance which sets out its definition of a built-up area as an area of built-up land of at least 20 hectares (0.077 sq mi), separated from other settlements by at least 200 metres (660 ft). For 2011 census data there are 5,493 built-up areas, of which 501 are divided into sub-divisions for which data is also available. Each built-up area is named algorithmically, using Ordnance Survey place-name data.[34]

The ONS has produced census results from urban areas since 1951, since 1981 based upon the extent of irreversible urban development indicated on Ordnance Survey maps. The definition is an extent of at least 20 ha and at least 1,500 census residents. Separate areas are linked if less than 200 m (220 yd) apart. Included are transportation features.[35] The UK has five Urban Areas with a population over a million and a further sixty nine with a population over one hundred thousand.

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Largest urban areas of the United Kingdom

(England and Wales: 2011 census built-up area;[36] Scotland: 2016 estimates settlement;[37] Northern Ireland: 2001 census urban area)[38]

Rank Urban area Pop. Principal settlement Rank Urban area Pop. Principal settlement
London from a hot air balloon.jpg
Greater London Urban Area

Manchester from the Sky, 2008.jpg
Greater Manchester Urban Area

1 Greater London Urban Area 9,787,426 London 11 Bristol Urban Area 617,280 Bristol Central Birmingham Skyline (6305750228).jpg
West Midlands Urban Area

Leeds-2-cropped.jpg
West Yorkshire Urban Area

2 Greater Manchester Urban Area 2,553,379 Manchester 12 Edinburgh Urban Area 512,150 Edinburgh
3 West Midlands Urban Area 2,440,986 Birmingham 13 Leicester Urban Area 508,916 Leicester
4 West Yorkshire Urban Area 1,777,934 Leeds 14 Belfast Urban Area 483,418 Belfast
5 Greater Glasgow 985,290 Glasgow 15 Brighton and Hove built-up area 474,485 Brighton
6 Liverpool Urban Area 864,122 Liverpool 16 South East Dorset conurbation 466,266 Bournemouth
7 South Hampshire 855,569 Southampton 17 Cardiff Urban Area 390,214 Cardiff
8 Tyneside 774,891 Newcastle 18 Teesside 376,633 Middlesbrough
9 Nottingham Urban Area 729,977 Nottingham 19 The Potteries Urban Area 372,775 Stoke-on-Trent
10 Sheffield Urban Area 685,368 Sheffield 20 Coventry and Bedworth Urban Area 359,262 Coventry

Norway [edit]

Statistics Norway defines urban areas ("tettsteder") similarly to the other Nordic countries. Unlike in Denmark and Sweden, the distance between each building has to be of less than 50 m, although exceptions are made due to parks, industrial areas, rivers, and similar. Groups of houses less than 400 m from the main body of an urban area are included in the urban area.[39]

Poland [edit]

In Poland, official "urban" population figures simply refer to those localities which have the status of towns (miasta). The "rural" population is that of all areas outside the boundaries of these towns. This distinction may give a misleading impression in some cases, since some localities with only village status may have acquired larger and denser populations than many many smaller towns[40] with most excessive example of Poznań, most spread urban area of the country with population of the city app. 534 thousand and urban area above 1,100 thousand inhabitants. On the other hand, the Upper Silesian Industrial Region conurbation with numerous large and medium cities covers 3,200 km and has approximately 3 million people.

Russia [edit]

Moscow, the capital and largest city of Russia, has a population estimated at 12.4 million residents within the city limits,[41] while over 17 million residents in the urban area,[42] and over 20 million residents in the Moscow Metropolitan Area.[43] It is among the world's largest cities, being the most populous city entirely within Europe, the most populous urban area in Europe,[42] the most populous metropolitan area in Europe,[43] and also the largest city by land area on the European continent.[44] Saint Petersburg, the cultural capital, is the second-largest city, with a population of roughly 5.4 million inhabitants.[45] Other major urban areas are Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, and Chelyabinsk.

Oceania [edit]

Australia [edit]

The Australian Bureau of Statistics refers to urban areas as Urban Centres, which it generally defines as population clusters of 1,000 or more people.[46] Australia is one of the most urbanised countries in the world, with more than 50% of the population residing in Australia's three biggest urban centres.[ citation needed ] [46]

Sydney is Australia's largest city, home to 5.3 million inhabitants.[47]

New Zealand [edit]

Statistics New Zealand defines urban areas in New Zealand, which are independent of any administrative subdivisions and have no legal basis.[48] There are three classes of urban area: main urban areas are the 17 urban areas which have a population of 30,000 or more; secondary urban areas are the 14 urban areas which have a population of 10,000 or more but less than 30,000, and minor urban areas are the 103 urban areas which have a population of 1,000 or more but less than 10,000. Urban areas are reclassified after each New Zealand census, so population changes between censuses does not change an urban area's classification.

North America [edit]

Canada [edit]

According to Statistics Canada, an urban area in Canada is an area with a population of at least 1,000 people where the density is no fewer than 400 persons per square kilometre (1,000/sq mi).[49] If two or more urban areas are within 2 km (1.2 mi) of each other by road, they are merged into a single urban area, provided they do not cross census metropolitan area or census agglomeration boundaries.[50]

In the Canada 2011 Census, Statistics Canada redesignated urban areas with the new term "population centre";[51] the new term was chosen in order to better reflect the fact that urban vs. rural is not a strict division, but rather a continuum within which several distinct settlement patterns may exist. For example, a community may fit a strictly statistical definition of an urban area, but may not be commonly thought of as "urban" because it has a smaller population, or functions socially and economically as a suburb of another urban area rather than as a self-contained urban entity, or is geographically remote from other urban communities. Accordingly, the new definition set out three distinct types of population centres: small (population 1,000 to 29,999), medium (population 30,000 to 99,999) and large (population 100,000 or greater).[51] Despite the change in terminology, however, the demographic definition of a population centre remains unchanged from that of an urban area: a population of at least 1,000 people where the density is no fewer than 400 persons per km2.

United States [edit]

In the United States, there are two categories of urban area. The term urbanized area denotes an urban area of 50,000 or more people. Urban areas under 50,000 people are called urban clusters. Urbanized areas were first delineated in the United States in the 1950 census, while urban clusters were added in the 2000 census. There are 1,371 urban areas and urban clusters with more than 10,000 people.

The U.S. Census Bureau defines an urban area as "core census block groups or blocks that have a population density of at least 1,000 people per square mile (386 per square kilometer) and surrounding census blocks that have an overall density of at least 500 people per square mile (193 per square kilometer)".[52]

The largest urban area in the United States is the New York metropolitan area. The population of New York City, the core of the metropolitan area, exceeds 8.5 million people, its metropolitan statistical area has a population that is over 20 million, and its combined statistical area population is over 23 million. The next seven largest urban areas in the U.S. are Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Houston, and Atlanta.[53] About 82 percent of the population of the United States lives within the boundaries of an urbanized area as of December, 2010.[54] Combined, these areas occupy about 2 percent of the land area of the United States. Many Americans live in agglomerations of cities, suburbs, and towns that are adjacent to a metropolitan area's largest city.[ citation needed ]

The concept of Urbanized Areas as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau is often used as a more accurate gauge of the size of a city, since in different cities and states the lines between city borders and the urbanized area of that city are often not the same. For example, the city of Greenville, South Carolina has a city population just over 68,000 and an urbanized area population of around 400,000, while Greensboro, North Carolina has a city population just over 285,000 and an urbanized area population of around 300,000 — meaning that Greenville is actually "larger" for some intents and purposes, but not for others, such as taxation, local elections, etc.

In the U.S. Department of Agriculture's natural resources inventory, urban areas are officially known as developed areas or urban and built-up areas. Such areas include cities, ethnic villages, other built-up areas of more than 10 ac (4 ha), industrial sites, railroad yards, cemeteries, airports, golf courses, shooting ranges, institutional and public administration sites, and similar areas. The 1997 national resources inventory placed over 98,000,000 ac (40,000,000 ha) in this category, an increase of 25,000,000 ac (10,000,000 ha) since 1982.[55]

South America [edit]

Argentina [edit]

Argentina is highly urbanized.[56] The ten largest metropolitan areas account for half of the population, and fewer than one in ten live in rural areas. About 3 million people live in Buenos Aires City and the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area totals around 15 million, making it one of the largest urban areas in the world, with a population of 18 million all up.[57]

Córdoba has around 1.5 million people living in the urban area, while Rosario, Mendoza and Tucumán have around 1.2 million inhabitants each[57] and La Plata, Mar del Plata, Salta and Santa Fe[57] [58] have at least 500,000 people each.

Brazil [edit]

According to IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) urban areas already concentrate 84.35% of the population, while the Southeast region remains the most populated one, with over 80 million inhabitants.[59] The largest metropolitan areas in Brazil are São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Belo Horizonte — all in the Southeastern Region — with 21, 12, and 5 million inhabitants respectively.[60] In general, state capitals are the largest cities in their states, except for Vitória, the capital of Espírito Santo, and Florianópolis, the capital of Santa Catarina. There are also non-capital metropolitan areas in the states of São Paulo (Campinas, Santos and the Paraíba Valley), Minas Gerais (Steel Valley), Rio Grande do Sul (Sinos Valley) and Santa Catarina (Itajaí Valley).[61]

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Largest urban agglomerations in Brazil

2017 Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics estimates[63] [64] [65]

Rank Name State Pop. Rank Name State Pop.
São Paulo
São Paulo
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro 		1 São Paulo São Paulo 21,314,716 11 Belém Pará 2,157,180 Belo Horizonte
Belo Horizonte
Recife
Recife
2 Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro 12,389,775 12 Manaus Amazonas 2,130,264
3 Belo Horizonte Minas Gerais 5,142,260 13 Campinas São Paulo 2,105,600
4 Recife Pernambuco 4,021,641 14 Vitória Espírito Santo 1,837,047
5 Brasília Federal District 3,986,425 15 Baixada Santista São Paulo 1,702,343
6 Porto Alegre Rio Grande do Sul 3,894,232 16 São José dos Campos São Paulo 1,572,943
7 Salvador Bahia 3,863,154 17 São Luís Maranhão 1,421,569
8 Fortaleza Ceará 3,594,924 18 Natal Rio Grande do Norte 1,349,743
9 Curitiba Paraná 3,387,985 19 Maceió Alagoas 1,231,965
10 Goiânia Goiás 2,347,557 20 João Pessoa Paraíba 1,168,941

See also [edit]

  • Developed environments
  • Urban climatology
  • Urban culture
  • Urban decay
  • Urban exploration
  • Urban planning
  • Urban renewal
  • Urbanization

References [edit]

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External links [edit]

  • United Nations Statistics Division (UNSTAT): Definition of "urban"
  • World Urban Areas All identified world urbanized areas 500,000+ and others: Population & Density.
  • Geopolis: research group, University of Paris-Diderot, France for world urban areas
  • Gridded Population of the World – contains links to urban area definitions and maps for over 230 countries/territories
  • City Mayors – The World's Largest Urban Areas in 2006
  • City Mayors – The World's Largest Urban Areas Projected for 2020
  • PopulationData – World's largest urban areas 1,000,000+ population

Urban Definition Used in a Sentence

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_area