Bilbao metropolitan area


's Landsat satellite.
The Bilbao Metropolitan Area is the metropolitan area or continuous urban area based around the city of Bilbao, in the Basque Country, Spain. It comprises the city of Bilbao, the 25 municipalities that make the comarca of Greater Bilbao plus ten other surrounding municipalities, all of them in the province of Biscay.
It is the fifth most populated metropolitan area in Spain Almost 80% of the population of Biscay and 43% of the population of the Basque Country is concentrated in the Greater Bilbao area or the wider metropolitan area. The metropolitan area's municipalities, are defined by the Basque Country's Territorial Directives Other six satellite cities exist within the province of Biscay and the community of Cantabria, where commute between the cities and the metropolitan area in common.

Constituent parts

The metropolitan area of Bilbao can be divided into the municipalities inside Greater Bilbao and the ones located outside. Greater Bilbao is a comarca, an administrative division of the province of Biscay and smaller than the wider metropolitan area. Plus, six municipalities outside the actual metropolitan area are considered satellite cities.

Greater Bilbao

Within the comarca of Greater Bilbao there are 25 municipalities corresponding to the city of Bilbao and the conurbation next to it, conformed by municipalities located along the Nervión River.
These 10 municipalities are located outside the comarca of Greater Bilbao but inside the wider metropolitan area.
Municipality
Population

2018
Arrankudiaga970
Barrika1,541
Berango7,130
Gorliz5,683
Lemoiz1,241
Plentzia4,363
Sopelana
7,130
Ugao-Miraballes4,124
Urduliz4,319
Zeberio1,059
Total37,560

Satellite towns

These municipalities are located both outside Greater Bilbao and outside the metropolitan area itself, but they are considered "satellite towns". All of them, with the exception of Castro Urdiales which is located in the community of Cantabria and Laudio which is located in Álava, are located in the province of Biscay, on different comarcas.
The area is usually structured into different zones:
The Bilbao Ria 2000 corporation was founded in 1992 by the Bilbao and Barakaldo municipalities, the Greater Bilbao metropolitan area, and the Basque and Spanish Governments. The corporation's aim was to regenerate the city-planning of Bilbao and its surroundings, which were heavily punished by intense industrial contamination and decay. Among the projects this institution implemented was the recovery of Abandoibarra, once an industrial ground and now the site of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and the Euskalduna Palace.
In parallel to Bilbao Ria 2000 , the Bilbao Metropoli-30 association was constituted in 1991 by the City council of Bilbao, the Biscay and Basque Governments and diverse public and private organizations for the regeneration of Metropolitan Bilbao.
The area is since 1995 fully interconnected by the Metro Bilbao.

Population of the Metropolitan Area

Area
Population
Left bank and Mining zone 263,293
Hego Uribe 130,427
Bilbao 379,116
Right Bank and Uribe Kosta 177,319
Total950,155

Municipality
Population

2018
Amorebieta-Etxano19,140
Castro Urdiales31,977
Durango29,636
Laudio18,205
Lemoa3,521
Mungia17,554
Total120,033