Data extracted in June 2025
Planned article update: 2030
Highlights
This article presents harmonised population grid 1 km² population grid data that are available for the European Union and three EFTA countries. The datasets are based on data collected under the 2021 EU Census Programme.
The interactive visualization below shows grid data for the total population in 2021.
Background information
The information presented in this article is based on population grids data produced as part of the 2021 population and housing censuses in the EU. The grid data consist of statistics that are geographically referenced to a system of square grid cells in a common European reference grid net with Cartesian coordinates. The use of a common European-level grid allows analyses to be undertaken for areas that cross national boundaries.
Traditionally, official statistics are reported in accordance with a hierarchical system of administrative and statistical units ranging from the local to the EU level and usually under the control of an official authority. In the EU, the Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics (NUTS) is the most important example of such an output system. While this is excellent for accounting purposes, and for reporting to the respective authorities administering services within the territory, it is not suitable for studying causes and effects of many socioeconomic and environmental phenomena, such as flooding, commuting, mobility, leisure time, and urban sprawl to name but a few. When studying such phenomena, a system of grids[1] with equal-size cells has many advantages:
- grid cells all have the same size allowing for easy comparison
- grids are stable over time
- grids can be easily integrated with other scientific data (e.g. meteorological information)
- grid systems can be constructed hierarchically in terms of cell size thus matching the study area and grid cells can be assembled to form areas reflecting a specific purpose and study area (mountain regions, water catchments).
Distribution of European population
The total population of the EU Member States and 3 EFTA countries considered here was 455,671,735 residents. Out of the 4 595 749 1 km² grid cells, 1 901 599 were populated, while 2 694 150 grid cells had no resident population. This means that approximately 59 out of every 100 grid cells were uninhabited. Among the inhabited cells, 53 864 had a resident population of just 1 person.
France holds the largest share of the overall grid area, accounting for approximately 12% of the total grid cells. It is followed by Spain with 11% and Sweden with 10% from all grid cells. Spain and Sweden have the highest number of uninhabited grid cells, contributing 8.6% and 7.5% of all uninhabited cells, respectively. In terms of populated cells, Finland alone accounts for more than 5% of inhabited grid cells.
The census population grid data provide insights into the most densely populated areas across Europe. The three 1 km² grid cells with the highest population counts, based on the 2021 population and housing censuses, are in Spain: with 56 034 and 54 044 people in the grid cells respectively and in France with 51 525 people.
Population density classes
A population refers to a group of individuals living within a specific area. The number of these individuals, divided by the surface area that they occupy, determines the population density. Population density is used to describe the location, growth and many other indicators in relation to urbanisation, immigration and population demographics, and is very useful for many policy domains such as ecology, epidemiology and infrastructure. It is therefore important to keep track of population density and its changes for small areas, using geographically detailed population data.
According to the 2021 population grid data, the population is distributed unevenly by density class across the 1,901,599 populated 1 km² grid cells. Based on population density, around 64.5% of the population in the EU and EFTA countries lives in grid cells with at least 1,000 people. Although the densest grid class (≥5,000 people) represents about 0.7% of populated grid cells, it houses over 124 million people, accounting for more than 27% of the total population. In contrast, the largest number of populated grid cells — 762,201, or 40% — belong to the 2–19 people per cell category accommodating 1.4% of the population. This highlights the vast spatial spread of low-density areas. Low-density cells (fewer than 100 people) make up over 71% of all populated grid cells but house about 13% of the population. Grid cells with only 1 resident making 2.8% of all populated cells (Table 1).
The following animation visualises population in the EU by 25 km². A glimpse at the distribution of the population over such squares reveals that 38% of them have only 1 to 500 people as residents, while the most densely populated areas (more than 10,000 people per a 25 km² make up only about 5% of the total.
Population of European capitals
The population grid is used to produce the grid cell classification to define cells that belong to an urban centre. By definition, a city is a local administrative unit or a group of local administrative units where a majority of the population lives in an urban centre of at least 50,000 inhabitants. Examples of local administrative units include a municipality or a commune. A coherent and harmonised methodology that delineates cities is the basis of the production of comparable datasets. This basis is laid down in Commission Regulation (EU) No 2019/1130 on the uniform conditions for the harmonised application of territorial typologies.
It is common that capital cities include a single urban centre located in a single local administrative unit with very high population. Some capital cities can contain more than 1 urban centre; or 1 urban centre that covers two different parts of the city, as in the case of Budapest. Moreover, some capitals have outgrown their central local administrative unit, such as Athens, Copenhagen, Paris or Valletta.
According to the population grid data from the 2021 population and housing census, the total capital city population in the EU was 48,896,347, which is close to 11% of the total EU population enumerated in 2021. More than 20% of the total capital city population lived in the biggest capital city, Paris. The second largest capital is Madrid with half the population of Paris. The smallest capital city, Luxembourg, has a population of only about 1.3% of the population of the biggest capital city (Table 2).
The map below allows the user to zoom in on different capital cities by selecting them from the drop-down menu at the top left.
The degree of urbanisation is a classification of the character of an area using 1 km² grid cells, according to their population density, population size and contiguity (neighbouring cells). The latest update of the classification is based on the 2021 population census grids. Based on the share of local population living in urban clusters and in urban centres, local administrative units are classified into three types of area
- Cities (densely populated areas)
- Towns and suburbs (intermediate density areas)
- Rural areas (thinly populated areas)
The map below visualises the degree of urbanisation by providing a view on urban and rural areas.
Source data for tables and figures
Population distribution on grids
The data source used to produce population grids was the 2021 population and housing census. The sources for census data differ between countries and census rounds. Four main census approaches according to the Art. 4 of Regulation (EC) No 763/2008, were applied by countries in 2021: traditional, register based, rolling and combined census. Grid data for Iceland is not available and grid data from France does not include Régions Ultrapériphériques Françaises. Eurostat classifies the values on the grid cells as final. The data to be provided on 1 km² grid from the 2021 population and housing census is laid down in Regulation (EU) 1799/2018 and is as follows: with a deadline of 31 December 2022 for the total population on grids, and with a deadline of 31 March 2024
- sex (males, females)
- age (under 15, 15 to 64, 65 and over)
- employed persons(voluntary bases, not provided by Germany and France)
- place of birth (in the reporting country, in another EU country, outside the EU)
- usual residence 12 months before the census date (unchanged, within the reporting country, outside of the reporting country)
The census grid dataset is referenced to a common 1 km² reference grid, that is defined by the INSPIRE framework, more specifically by Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 that specifies the grid to be used (the ETRS89-LAEA coordinate reference system). The geo-referenced population dataset from the 2021 population and housing censuses in the EU can be accessed at the Eurostat GISCO website.
To create population grids for the 2021 population and housing census round, 30 countries in the European Statistical System applied mostly the aggregation method. As described in the Statistics Explained article on Population grids, there are usually three methodology types that are used to attribute a number of inhabitants to each square kilometre cell:
Aggregation method: Grids are produced by aggregating geo-referenced micro data (also called bottom-up approach). This method requires the availability of data that has been geocoded to a geographical location, followed by the aggregation into the square kilometre. This was the method used by 25 Member States and three EFTA countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Hungary, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland).
Disaggregation method: In the absence of geocoded micro data this method produces grids, using statistical data for the lowest available administrative/territorial units in combination with auxiliary spatial data (also called top-down approach). Data on land use and land cover is used to estimate the population within a particular administrative region into the square kilometre cells of that region. None of the Member States used this method for the 2021 population and housing census.
Hybrid method: The hybrid method combines aggregation and disaggregation techniques and represents a compromise between accuracy and availability of data. The aim is to maximise the quality of the data over disaggregation alone, e.g. for different parts of a country. The term hybrid could also refer to the source data, meaning a combination of different data sources with the aim of establishing a geocoded framework. The hybrid method was used by two Member States (Greece and France).
Population census data at a 1 km² grid level have the same scale, the same resolution and the same delineation across countries, in order to allow easy combinations to be used in cross-cutting comparable analysis. Population grid data on totals show the estimated number of people residing in each grid cell and allows for a visualisation of the residential distribution of the European population. All grid cells have an identification according to the INSPIRE specification, according to the ETRS89-LAEA coordinate reference system mentioned above.
The population grid data from the 2021 population and housing census contains the total population at the place of usual residence. Some countries chose to apply various statistical disclose control (SDC) methods to protect the grid data. Information on the application of SDC methods has been supplied by all countries in the national metadata files.
Land surface area information was calculated for seven countries (Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Romania and Slovakia), where more precise geographical information than 1ha was not available at national level. The land surface parameters for these countries are based on the CORINE dataset (minimum mapping unit 25ha) and the EBM administrative boundaries (Map scale 1:100 000).
For the current release of total population grids, the following set of controls, checks and improvements were applied:
- Revision of changes compared to provisional 2021 data in the population, land surface, flags values;
- Harmonisation of coastlines and border areas;
- Revision of unpopulated units.
Context
The dissemination of Union-wide harmonised census topics on a constant area grid, in particular on a 1 km² grid, is a key European statistical output for evidence-based policymaking. The collection of geocoded population data addresses a common need across the Union for reliable, and comparable information on population distribution with sufficient spatial resolution, founded on harmonised output requirements and intended for pan-European regional policymaking. As a result, harmonised, spatially resolved demographic information across the Union collected and disseminated; 1 dataset per Member State was collected, containing selected topics of the 2021 population and housing census geocoded to a 1 km² grid. To achieve comparable harmonised outputs across the Union, a Union-wide constant area grid consisting of 1 km² cells was determined. The specific topics and their breakdowns as well as the detailed programme to be disseminated on this 1 km² grid was established by a temporary direct statistical action. The total population in the grid cells was disseminated in 2023, 2024 and updated in 2025.
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Other articles
Database
Thematic section
Publications
All the publications related to the 2021 population and housing census are available on the Population and housing censuses website.
Methodology
Legislation
All relevant legislation regarding the 2021 population and housing censuses in the EU can be accessed through the Population and housing censuses dedicated section.
The legislation specifically mentioned in this article is as follows:
- A system for the coordinate grid was constructed using the Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area projection based on the European Terrestrial Reference System 1989 (ETRS89-LAEA), which was designated as the European standard under the INSPIRE (Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community) Directive 2007/2/EC. This alignment marked a major step forward, particularly in ensuring the usability of grid data across national borders and enabling seamless pan-European analysis. ↑