Since the exact city-limits of Copenhagen are poorly defined, the population numbers are somewhat abstract. Statistics Denmark uses a measure of the contiguously built-up urban area of Copenhagen, this means the number of communities included in this statistical abstract has changed several times, in the abstracts latest edition with slightly more than 1.1 million (1,145,804 (2007)) inhabitants. This number is not af strict result of the commonly-used measuring methods of 200 meters of continuously build-up area, as there are exceptions to the general rule in the suburbs of Dragør, Taastrup, Birkerød, Hørsholm and Farum. Statistics Denmark has never stated the geographical area of urban Copenhagen. However we know it consists of Copenhagen Municipality, Frederiksberg and 16 of the 20 municipalities in the old counties Copenhagen and Roskilde, though 5 of them only partially.
Statistics Denmark has worked out definitions of so-called lands (landsdele), a definition used to meet statistical needs on a lower level than regions. From this, the land of Copenhagen city (København by) is defined by the municipalities of Copenhagen, Dragør, Frederiksberg and Tårnby, with a total population of 656,582 in the beginning of 2008. The surroundings of Copenhagen is defined by another land, Copenhagen suburban (Københavns omegn), which includes the municipalities of Albertslund, Ballerup, Brøndby, Gentofte, Gladsaxe, Glostrup, Herlev, Hvidovre, Høje-Taastrup, Ishøj, Lyngby-Taarbæk, Rødovre and Vallensbæk, and with a total population of 504,481 (January 1 2008). This gives a total population of 1,161,063 for these two lands together. The lands of Copenhagen city and Copenhagen suburban can together be used as a definition of the metropolitan area, although perhaps a somewhat narrow one.
From 1 January 2008 the population of the 33 municipalities closest to and including the municipality of Copenhagen is 1,835,371. Land area: 2,673 km² (1,032 sq mi). (Copenhagen Region - Bornholm + East Zealand). Water area: 105 km² (40.5 sq mi). Thus, the region comprises 6.3% of the land area of Denmark, but has 33.5% of Denmark's population. This gives a total of 686 inhabitants per km² or 1,776 per square mile for the region. This compares with a population density in the rest of the country of approximately 90 per km² or around 230 per square mile.
A high-ranking civil servant of the Interior Ministry, Henning Strøm, who was involved in (i.e. known as "the Father of") a past municipal reform, which took effect on 1 April 1970, said on television, broadcast in connection with the recent Kommunalreformen ("The Municipal Reform" of 2007), that Copenhagen municipality would encompass an area with 1.5 million inhabitants, if the principles of the 1970 municipal reform were also applied on Copenhagen municipality. In other words: in the rest of Denmark the city occupies only part of the municipality, but in Copenhagen the municipality of Copenhagen occupies only part of the city of Copenhagen.
