Population of Cologne in 2025 was 1 024 621, making it the fourth largest city in Germany. It is also the most populous city in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Cologne is located on the banks or Rhine and is close to the large polycentric Ruht agglomeration.
Population in boroughs of Cologne
Cologne is subdivided into 9 boroughs (Stadtbezirke) each having between 80 000 and 150 000 inhabitants. The most populous borough is Lindenthal. The figures shown in the map below are as of 2022-12-31, and are according to estimates. Thus the combined population of all boroughs might be different than the official figure of the whole city of Cologne.
Cologne metropolitan area
The Cologne-Bonn urban area has approximately 3.1 million inhabitants. Cologne is also part of the larger Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region that has over 11 million inhabitants and is the most populous metropolitan region in Germany.