Katowice urban area



The Katowice urban area (Konurbacja katowicka, ), also known as the Upper Silesian urban area (Konurbacja górnośląska, ), is an urban area/conurbation in southern Poland, centered on Katowice. It is located in the Silesian Voivodeship. The Katowice urban area is the largest urban area in Poland and 21st largest urban area in the European Union. According to Demographia, its population is 1,903,000 (August 2023).

Alternative names
Katowice conurbation, Upper Silesian conurbation, Upper Silesian urban area. konurbacja katowicka, konurbacja górnośląska, konurbacja śląska, konurbacja śląsko-dąbrowska, aglomeracja katowicka, aglomeracja górnośląska.

Administration of urban area


According to Statistics Poland, the Katowice urban area consists of 19 bordering cities in the Silesian Voivodeship: Będzin, Bytom, Chorzów, Czeladź, Dąbrowa Górnicza, Gliwice, Jaworzno, Katowice, Knurów, Mikołów, Mysłowice, Piekary Śląskie, Ruda Śląska, Siemianowice Śląskie, Świętochłowice, Sosnowiec, Tychy, Tarnowskie Góry, and Zabrze.

The cities and statistics (1 January 2008):

Metropolitan area
The Katowice urban area covers the majority of the population and area of the Katowice metropolitan area (also known as Upper Silesian metropolitan area),    with a population of around 2.5 million (2023), and is a part of the Katowice-Ostrava metropolitan area, which has a population of 5.3 million people (2002). Also this is (with Kraków metropolitan area among others) a part of, which has a population of around 6.8 million.

Demographics
There are given differing population numbers in different sources.


 * 2,225,000 (2024) – according to citypopulation.de.
 * 2,535,354 (2023) – according to Eurostat
 * 2,700,000 (2006) – according to Metropolis.pl
 * 2,746,000 (2001) – according to the scientific description by Tadeusz Markowski.
 * 2,733,000 (2002) – according to the scientific description by Paweł Swianiewicz and Urszula Klimska.
 * 2,886,700 (2004) – according to the scientific description by Kazimierz Fiedorowicz and Jacek Fiedorowicz.
 * 3,029,000 (2002) – according to the European Spatial Planning Observation Network. Markered as 13th largest metropolitan area in European Union and also 6th polycentric metropolitan area in EU.
 * 3,069,000 – according to the United Nations.
 * 3,239,200 (2003) – according to the Ministry of Regional Development of Poland
 * 3,488,000 – according to www.worldatlas.com.
 * 3,500,000 – according to PWN Encyclopedia.
 * 3,500,000 – according to the scientific description by Jerzy Parysek and Alexander Tölle.