Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan a ...

Capital Region of Denmark The Capital Region of Denmark ( da, Region Hovedstaden, ) is the easternmost administrative region of Denmark. The Capital Region has 29 municipalities and a regional council consisting of 41 elected members. As of 1 August 2021 the chairperso ...

Region Zealand Region Zealand ( da, Region Sjælland) is the southernmost administrative region of Denmark, established on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish Municipal Reform, which abolished the traditional counties ("amter") and set up five larger regi ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan a ...

Frederiksberg Frederiksberg () is a part of the Capital Region of Denmark. It is formally an independent municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality, separate from Copenhagen Municipality, but both are a part of the City of Copenhagen. It occupies an area of ...

Ballerup Ballerup is a Danish town, seat of the Ballerup Municipality, in the Region Hovedstaden. There are approximately 25 schools in Ballerup Municipality. Ballerup has its own educational institution specialized in the study, training and research of ...

Roskilde County Roskilde Amt () is a former county () on the island of Zealand (''Sjælland'') in eastern Denmark. The county was abolished effective January 1, 2007, when it merged into Region Sjælland (i.e. ''Region Zealand''). Roskilde is also the name of ...

Ishøj Ishøj is a Danish town with a population of 20,017 (1 January 2015).Søllerød Søllerød is a suburban district of Rudersdal Municipality in the northern outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark. The original village, one of the oldest in the area, is perched on Søllerød Hill on the south side of Søllerød Lake. It merged with ...

Værløse Værløse () is a town in Furesø Municipality in the northwestern outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark. As of 1 January 2022, it has a population of 13,069. Situated on the west side of the Hillerød Motorway, between Farum Lake to the north and Søn ...

Danmarks Statistik Statistics Denmark ( da, Danmarks Statistik) is a Danish governmental organization under the Ministry of the Interior and Housing and which reports to the Minister of Economic and Internal Affairs. The organization is responsible for creating st ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan a ...

Amager Amager ( or, especially among older speakers, ) in the Øresund is Denmark's most densely populated island, with more than 212,000 inhabitants (January 2021) a small appendage to Zealand. The protected natural area of ''Naturpark Amager'' (includi ...

Frederiksberg Frederiksberg () is a part of the Capital Region of Denmark. It is formally an independent municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality, separate from Copenhagen Municipality, but both are a part of the City of Copenhagen. It occupies an area of ...

Albertslund Albertslund is a Copenhagen suburb in Albertslund Municipality, Denmark. It is located west of central Copenhagen, with a population of around 30,000. Albertslund is a planned community or new town mainly built in the 1960s and 1970s. The s ...

Farum Farum is a town on the northeast of the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark, 20 km northwest of Copenhagen. The town has a population of 20,312 (1 January 2022).

Værløse Værløse () is a town in Furesø Municipality in the northwestern outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark. As of 1 January 2022, it has a population of 13,069. Situated on the west side of the Hillerød Motorway, between Farum Lake to the north and Søn ...

Greve Strand Greve Strand (commonly also known simply as Greve) is a Danish town, seat of the Greve Municipality, in the Region Sjælland. Its population is 41,879 (1 January 2015).Herlev Herlev is a suburb about 9 km northwest of Copenhagen city centre. It is the site of the municipal council of Herlev Municipality, Denmark. Sports Herlev is the hometown of former Vancouver Canuck Jannik Hansen. Herlev is known for its ...

Hvidovre Hvidovre is the main town in Hvidovre Municipality, Denmark. The town, a suburb of Copenhagen, is about 10 km southwest of the capital's center. It is the 2nd biggest suburb of Copenhagen, only beaten by Frederiksberg. History Hvidovre has ...

Ishøj Ishøj is a Danish town with a population of 20,017 (1 January 2015).Lyngby-Taarbæk - 55,472 *

Rødovre Rødovre is a town in eastern Denmark, seat of the Rødovre Municipality, in the Region Hovedstaden. The town's population 1 January 2019 was 39,907, and in addition 145 persons had no fixed address, which made up a total of 40,052 in the munic ...

- 39,343 * Rudersdal (former

Birkerød Birkerød () is a town in Rudersdal Municipality in the northern outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is surrounded by several lakes and small woodlands. Birkerød station is located on the Hillerød radial of the S-train suburban network. Hi ...

and

Søllerød Søllerød is a suburban district of Rudersdal Municipality in the northern outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark. The original village, one of the oldest in the area, is perched on Søllerød Hill on the south side of Søllerød Lake. It merged with ...

) - 55,989 *

Taastrup Taastrup () is a Danish railway town or/and suburb of Copenhagen - 15 km west of the capital's city centre, and formerly the administrative seat of Høje-Taastrup Municipality, Region Hovedstaden. It takes its name from the village of T ...

- 50.686 *

Tårnby Tårnby () is a town in Denmark, the seat of Tårnby Municipality in the Capital Region of Denmark. It is located approximately south of central Copenhagen on the island of Amager. Neighbouring settlements include the Copenhagen suburb of Sundb ...

(a very large area of western Amager and the Saltholm (2 inhabitants (2020)) and Peberholm (nature habitat) islands are unpopulated) - 43,063 *

Vallensbæk Vallensbæk is a seaside western suburb of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is part of the Greater Copenhagen Area. It forms its own municipality, Vallensbæk Municipality, which is one of the smallest Danish municipalities. It borders Køge Bay, and th ...

- 16,280

Hovedstadsområdet vs. urban area of Copenhagen

However Hovedstadsområdet ( en, "The Capital Area") isn't a definition for the urban area of Copenhagen. The area doesn't follow the recommendations of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

regarding urban definitions (i.e. 200 meters between buildings as the required minimum) and is used for statistic issues only. The main difference between "Hovedstadsområdet" and common urban area definition (or ''city limits'') involves the islands of

Amager Amager ( or, especially among older speakers, ) in the Øresund is Denmark's most densely populated island, with more than 212,000 inhabitants (January 2021) a small appendage to Zealand. The protected natural area of ''Naturpark Amager'' (includi ...

, Saltholm and Peberholm, and primarily the municipality of

Tårnby Tårnby () is a town in Denmark, the seat of Tårnby Municipality in the Capital Region of Denmark. It is located approximately south of central Copenhagen on the island of Amager. Neighbouring settlements include the Copenhagen suburb of Sundb ...

.

Copenhagen Municipality Copenhagen Municipality ( da, Københavns Kommune), also known in English as the Municipality of Copenhagen, located in the Capital Region of Denmark, is the largest of the four municipalities that constitute the City of Copenhagen (), the other ...

,

Tårnby Municipality Tårnby Kommune () is a municipality ( Danish, '' kommune'') bordering Copenhagen Municipality on the island of Amager just east of Zealand (''Sjælland'') in eastern Denmark. The municipality includes the islands of Saltholm (16 km2;2 inh ...

and

Dragør Municipality Dragør Kommune () is a municipality ( Danish, '' kommune'') in Region Hovedstaden on the southern coast of the island of Amager just east of Zealand (''Sjælland'') in eastern Denmark. The municipality covers an area of 18.41 km² (2013) ...

is the three Municipality’s on The Island of Amager.

"Hovedstadsområdet" contains the entire Copenhagen and Tårnby municipalities, although the latter contains large areas without buildings and inhabitants. This also applies to a smaller part of Copenhagen on Amager island. The western part of Amager is an enlargement from a shallow part of the

Øresund Øresund or Öresund (, ; da, Øresund ; sv, Öresund ), commonly known in English as the Sound, is a strait which forms the Danish–Swedish border, separating Zealand (Denmark) from Scania (Sweden). The strait has a length of ; its width ...

sea, gained from the sea during the 1930s to 1950s. This extended part of Amager is split between Copenhagen and Tårnby municipalities, and is only built-up on two minor areas. It also includes along the harbour and around

Bella Center Bella Center (abbreviated BC) is Scandinavia's second largest exhibition and conference center (after Messecenter Herning), and is located in Copenhagen, Denmark. Located in Ørestad between the city centre and Copenhagen Airport, it offers an ...

(which hosted the climate meeting

COP 15 COP 15 may refer to: *2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference The 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, commonly known as the Copenhagen Summit, was held at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, between 7 and 18 December. Th ...

in December 2009). Apart from these smaller areas and an allotment-garden cottage area, the vast majority of western Amager is unplanned, with few buildings (like a shooting range). The cause for this creation was mainly to give shelter to the southern part of Copenhagen harbour. Since the area is now filled out with big stones, sand from the sea, plaster, wastes and unknown items, building in the area is expensive. Not even agriculture is possible due to bad soil. (However the southern part of Amager has agricultural areas and even a small forest, "Kongelunden" ("''King Grove''"). These areas belong to a third municipality of Amager island,

Dragør Dragør () is the main town of Dragør Municipality, (Denmark), which includes the village of Store Magleby. The city hall and seat of the municipal council lies on Kirkevej 7 (postal code 2791 Dragør) in Store Magleby, which has enough space ...

.) Some of the unused area belongs to

Copenhagen Municipality Copenhagen Municipality ( da, Københavns Kommune), also known in English as the Municipality of Copenhagen, located in the Capital Region of Denmark, is the largest of the four municipalities that constitute the City of Copenhagen (), the other ...

, but the

Dragør Municipality Dragør Kommune () is a municipality ( Danish, '' kommune'') in Region Hovedstaden on the southern coast of the island of Amager just east of Zealand (''Sjælland'') in eastern Denmark. The municipality covers an area of 18.41 km² (2013) ...

and

Tårnby Municipality Tårnby Kommune () is a municipality ( Danish, '' kommune'') bordering Copenhagen Municipality on the island of Amager just east of Zealand (''Sjælland'') in eastern Denmark. The municipality includes the islands of Saltholm (16 km2;2 inh ...

part is far larger. Also the almost unpopulated islands of "Saltholm" (3 inhabitants in 2010) and "Peberholm" (unpopulated) belongs to Tårnby, and so does the taxi and runway system of Copenhagen Airport (with three long runways). In all, most of Tårnby and a minor part of Copenhagen municipalities on Amager island cannot be regarded as an urban area. Consequently, "Hovedstadsområdet" does not equal an ''urban area of Copenhagen''. Neither the Danish statistic authority "Danmarks Statistik" (which presents information regarding "Hovedstadsområdet") or the Danish geographical institute "Kort og Matrikelstyrelsen" (which determines the borders of "Hovedstadsområdet") states that "Hovedstadsområdet" is an urban area of Copenhagen. For internal Danish matters this is of no importance. But when comparing Copenhagen with other cities, the unpopulated non-urban areas of Amager, Saltholm and Peberholm do make a difference in f.i. terms of

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopu ...

. , Copenhagen lacks official urban borders for comparison with other cities. "Hovedstadsområdet" is an area invented primarily for statistical matters. It's rarely used in conversation (as a ''defined'' area). Sometimes in media the word "Hovedstadsområdet" represents a metropolitan area from Køge in the south to Elsinore in the north and

Roskilde Roskilde ( , ) is a city west of Copenhagen on the Danish island of Zealand. With a population of 51,916 (), the city is a business and educational centre for the region and the 10th largest city in Denmark. It is governed by the administrative ...

in the west. For instance, a regional television channel called "Hovedstads-TV", "Kanal Hovedstaden", "Kanal København" and "TV2 Lorry" and other "Local-TV Channels" covers this larger area and so on. But even in nationwide public service television news, the word "Hovedstadsområdet" may refer to either what the Danish statistic institute defines as "Hovedstadsområdet" or the metropolitan area. Another similar area is "Storkøbenhavn" (eng. "Greater Copenhagen"). This is used by "Vejdirektoratet" ("the road authority") only. Just "Copenhagen" may refer either to the municipality, which has quite stingy borders (and totally surrounds Frederiksberg municipality), or the entire city, which doesn't have defined borders. Until the 1970s, the city region of Copenhagen ( da, København) was stated as the three municipalities

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan a ...

,

Frederiksberg Frederiksberg () is a part of the Capital Region of Denmark. It is formally an independent municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality, separate from Copenhagen Municipality, but both are a part of the City of Copenhagen. It occupies an area of ...

and

Gentofte Gentofte () is a district of Gentofte Municipality in the northern suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. Major landmarks include Gentofte Town Hall, Gentofte Hospital and Gentofte Church. Gentofte Lake with surrounding parkland and nature reserves form ...

. A better description of the city core (excluding all suburbs) would be south of the Dyrehaven forest in the north, the area east of the motorway called "motorring 3" and north of the motorway across Amager island which continues towards Sweden. This area includes Copenhagen (with Frederiksberg), Gentofte, most of

Gladsaxe Gladsaxe Kommune is a municipality (Danish, '' kommune'') near Copenhagen in Region Hovedstaden on the island of Zealand (''Sjælland'') in eastern Denmark. The municipality covers an area of , and has a total population of 69,681 (2019). Its ma ...

,

Rødovre Rødovre is a town in eastern Denmark, seat of the Rødovre Municipality, in the Region Hovedstaden. The town's population 1 January 2019 was 39,907, and in addition 145 persons had no fixed address, which made up a total of 40,052 in the munic ...

,

Hvidovre Hvidovre is the main town in Hvidovre Municipality, Denmark. The town, a suburb of Copenhagen, is about 10 km southwest of the capital's center. It is the 2nd biggest suburb of Copenhagen, only beaten by Frederiksberg. History Hvidovre has ...

and a part of

Tårnby Tårnby () is a town in Denmark, the seat of Tårnby Municipality in the Capital Region of Denmark. It is located approximately south of central Copenhagen on the island of Amager. Neighbouring settlements include the Copenhagen suburb of Sundb ...

municipalities This area has around 900.000 to 950.000 inhabitants.tally of population of the mentioned municipalities, including some reductions for the parts outside the described area Urban Copenhagen and this city region are statistical abstracts only and have no political and/or administrative implications.

References

{{Reflist Geography of Denmark Geography of Copenhagen

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan a ...

List of municipalities

Hovedstadsområdet vs. urban area of Copenhagen

See also

References