There are eleven metropolitan regions in Germany consisting of the country's most densely populated cities and their
catchment areas. They represent Germany's political, commercial and cultural centres. The eleven metropolitan regions in Germany were organised into political units for planning purposes.
Based on a narrower definition of
metropolises commonly used to determine the metropolitan status of a given city, only four cities in Germany surpass the threshold of at least one million inhabitants within their administrative borders:
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
,
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
,
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
and
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 ...
.
For urban centres outside metropolitan areas that are a similar focal point for their region, but on a smaller scale, the concept of the
Regiopolis
In Germany, a regiopolis is a city outside the core of a metropolitan area, that serves as an independent driving force for development within a larger region. The concept is used to develop midsized urban regions within regional, national and g ...
and the related concepts of ''regiopolitan area'' or ''regio'' were introduced by urban and regional planning professors in 2006.
Metropolitan regions
''Sorted alphabetically:''
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Berlin Metropolitan Region
#
Central German Metropolitan Region
The Central German Metropolitan Region (german: Metropolregion Mitteldeutschland) is one of the officially established metropolitan regions in Germany. It is centered on the major cities of Leipzig and Halle, extending over Central German parts ...
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Frankfurt/Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region
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Hamburg Metropolitan Region
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Hannover-Braunschweig-Göttingen-Wolfsburg Metropolitan Region
#
Munich Metropolitan Region
#
Northwest Metropolitan Region
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Nuremberg Metropolitan Region
The Nuremberg Metropolitan Region comprises 3.5 million people on 21,800 square kilometers. With a gross domestic product of 134 billion euros and about 1.9 million employees, this metropolitan area is one of the strongest economic areas in Germa ...
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Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region
The Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region (german: Metropolregion Rhein-Neckar, ), often referred to as Rhein-Neckar-Triangle, is a polycentric metropolitan region located in south western Germany, between the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main region to the North ...
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Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Region
The Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region (german: Metropolregion Rhein-Ruhr) is the largest metropolitan region in Germany, with over ten million inhabitants. A polycentric conurbation with several major urban concentrations, the region covers ...
(also covers the
Cologne Bonn Region
The Cologne Bonn Region (German: ''Region Köln/Bonn'') is a metropolitan area in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Germany, covering the cities of Cologne, Bonn and Leverkusen, as well as the districts of Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis, Oberbergischer K ...
)
#
Stuttgart Metropolitan Region
The Stuttgart Metropolitan Region is a metropolitan region in south-west Germany consisting of the cities and regions around Stuttgart, Heilbronn, Tübingen/Reutlingen. These cities are arranged into three agglomeration areas. The population of t ...
Big five
The five most important regions, collectively often called the "''Big Five''", are frequently compared with other European metropolitan regions (EMR) in terms of investment and market development. They are (from north to south):
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
,
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
, the polycentric
Ruhr-
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...
-
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 ...
region (collectively referred to as
Rhine-Ruhr
The Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region (german: Metropolregion Rhein-Ruhr) is the largest metropolitan region in Germany, with over ten million inhabitants. A polycentric conurbation with several major urban concentrations, the region covers ...
),
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
and
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
. The Globalization and World Cities Study Group (
GaWC
The Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) is a think tank that studies the relationships between world cities in the context of globalization. It is based in the geography department of Loughborough University in Leicestershire ...
) considers Frankfurt and Munich as "α" (alpha)
global cities, whereas the others are classified as "β" (beta) global cities.
Each of them forms types of clusters and achieves varying levels of performance in areas such as business activity, human capital, information and technology exchange, cultural experience, and political engagement.
*
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
, for its importance in global logistics
*
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
, for its political and cultural importance, science and technology community
*
Rhine-Ruhr
The Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region (german: Metropolregion Rhein-Ruhr) is the largest metropolitan region in Germany, with over ten million inhabitants. A polycentric conurbation with several major urban concentrations, the region covers ...
, for its logistics, technology and industry
*
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
/
Rhine-Main
The Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region, often simply referred to as Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main area or Rhine-Main area (German: ''Rhein-Main-Gebiet'' or ''Frankfurt/Rhein-Main'', abbreviated FRM), is the second-largest metropolitan re ...
, for its financial economy and human transport
*
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
, for its business, science and technology community
List
See also
*
Largest European metropolitan areas
This list ranks metropolitan areas in Europe by their population according to three different sources; it includes metropolitan areas that have a population of over 1 million.
Sources
List includes metropolitan areas according only studies of ...
*
Largest urban areas of the European Union
This is a list of urban areas in the European Union with over 500,000 inhabitants as of 2022. The data comes from Demographia and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.[Demographics of Germany
The demography of Germany is monitored by the ''Statistisches Bundesamt'' (Federal Statistical Office of Germany). According to the most recent data, Germany's population is 84,079,811 (30 June 2022) making it the most populous country in th ...]
*
Tourism in Germany
Germany is the eighth-most-visited country in the world, with a total of 407.26 million overnights during 2012.
References
External links
Initiativkreises Europäischer Metropolregionen in Deutschland
{{Germany states
Cities in Germany
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
Germany geography-related lists
de:Metropolregion#In Deutschland