France vs Spain: Population in urban agglomerations of more than 1 million

France
15.87 million
in 2025
Spain
12.54 million
in 2025
France rank
26th
Spain rank
28th

Population in urban agglomerations of more than 1 million over time

  • France
  • Spain
5.0M7.5M10.0M12.5M15.0M196019922025

How they compare

France currently reports 15.87 million against 12.54 million in Spain, a difference of 3.33 million.

That makes France's figure about 1.3 times Spain's.

Across all 66 years both countries report, France has been ahead every year.

France ranks 26th and Spain ranks 28th of 121 countries.

France has averaged higher in every one of the 7 decades both report.

Head to head by decade

Decade France Spain Difference Ahead
1960s 10.73 million 5.75 million 4.98 million France
1970s 11.85 million 7.52 million 4.33 million France
1980s 12.64 million 8.30 million 4.34 million France
1990s 13.33 million 8.88 million 4.45 million France
2000s 14.09 million 9.94 million 4.15 million France
2010s 14.97 million 11.42 million 3.55 million France
2020s 15.63 million 12.39 million 3.24 million France

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher population in urban agglomerations of more than 1 million, France or Spain?
France, at 15.87 million against 12.54 million in Spain as of 2025.
What is the difference in population in urban agglomerations of more than 1 million between France and Spain?
3.33 million, with France ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for France and Spain?
66 years are reported by both, from 1960 to 2025.
How do France and Spain rank globally for population in urban agglomerations of more than 1 million?
France ranks 26th and Spain ranks 28th of 121 countries.
Where does this data come from?
World Urbanization Prospects 2018, United Nations (UN), published as Population in urban agglomerations of more than 1 million. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Individual pages

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

France vs Spain: Population in urban agglomerations of more than 1 million. Statizoid, drawing on World Urbanization Prospects 2018, United Nations (UN). Retrieved 07 September 2026, from https://urban.statizoid.com/compare/population-in-urban-agglomerations-of-more-than-1-million/france/spain/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://urban.statizoid.com/compare/population-in-urban-agglomerations-of-more-than-1-million/france/spain/">France vs Spain: Population in urban agglomerations of more than 1 million</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
Population in urban agglomerations of more than 1 million
Source
World Urbanization Prospects 2018, United Nations (UN)
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage
121 places, 7,986 data points, 1960–2025
Last refreshed

Population in urban agglomerations of more than one million is the country's population living in metropolitan areas that in 2018 had a population of more than one million people.