Over 40 pct of EU population lives in cities: Eurostat

Out of 100 persons in the European Union (EU) in 2014, 40 were living in densely-populated areas (or cities), 28 in thinly-populated (or rural) areas and 32 in intermediate areas (or towns and suburbs), according to the information published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU on Monday.

There are significant discrepancies between the EU member states, some of them having a mainly urban population while in others the population is mainly rural, said Eurostat.

Across EU member states, more than half of the population was living in cities in Britain and Cyprus. A large part of the population was also concentrated in urban areas notably in Spain, Malta, Bulgaria and the Netherlands.

In contrast, the largest share of the population lived in rural areas in Luxembourg, followed by Slovenia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Denmark, Ireland and Romania.

The population living in intermediate areas was predominant in Belgium, while the population was almost evenly distributed between urban, intermediate and rural areas in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Finland.

Moreover, with an overall average score of 6.9 on a scale from 0 to 10, the EU urban population aged 16 and over was globally satisfied with their city's offer of recreational and green spaces, albeit to a lesser extent than the population living in thinly-populated areas, said Eurostat. Endit