The chart above shows the most populous city in each EU state and the proportion of that nation's population that resides there. EU states tend to have more of their population residing in their largest city than US states do.
Findings
- There are no US states with half their population residing in their largest city, the EU has two.
- Only ten states have over one-third of their population in their largest city, eight of these states are in the EU.
- Twenty-eight states have less than one in ten people residing in their largest city, 25 of these are in the US.
- Generally, the less populous a state is, the more likely it is to have more of its population in its largest city, New York being a notable exception.
Caveats
- The data is from 2010 for both the EU and the US.
- Data for the EU and the US come from two different sources, however both are the official sources for each entity.
Details
Europeans are more likely than Americans to live in the most populous city of their state. Of the top 20 states where most of the population lives in the largest city, 16 are European. Likewise, of the bottom 20, 19 are American.
Only nine EU states (out of 28) have less than one-fifth of their population in their largest city, whereas only eight US states (out of 50) have more than one-fifth of their population in their largest city.
Sources
Eurostat. 2017. "Data Explorer." Accessed December 11, 2017. http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=urb_lpop1&lang=en.
United States Census Bureau. "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2016." Accessed December 12, 2017. http://factfinder2.census.gov.