Amsterdam

===Metropolitan area===
[[File:Police Headquarters, Amsterdam.jpg|thumb|Police headquarters of Amsterdam]]
"Amsterdam" is usually understood to refer to the [[Municipalities of the Netherlands|municipality]] of Amsterdam. Colloquially, some areas within the municipality, such as the town of [[Durgerdam]], may not be considered part of Amsterdam.

[[Statistics Netherlands]] uses three other definitions of Amsterdam: metropolitan agglomeration Amsterdam (''Grootstedelijke Agglomeratie Amsterdam'', not to be confused with ''Grootstedelijk Gebied Amsterdam'', a synonym of ''Groot Amsterdam''), Greater Amsterdam (''Groot Amsterdam'', a [[COROP]] region) and the urban region Amsterdam (''Stadsgewest Amsterdam'').<ref name="auto"/> The Amsterdam Department for Research and Statistics uses a fourth conurbation, namely the ''Stadsregio Amsterdam'' ('City Region of Amsterdam'). The city region is similar to Greater Amsterdam but includes the municipalities of [[Zaanstad]] and [[Wormerland]]. It excludes [[Graft-De Rijp]].

The smallest of these areas is the [[Municipalities of the Netherlands|municipality]] of Amsterdam with a population of about 870,000 in 2021.<ref name="cbs2021">{{Cite web|url=https://opendata.cbs.nl/statline/#/CBS/en/dataset/37259eng/table?ts=1679876639000|title=CBS Statline|website=opendata.cbs.nl}}</ref> The larger conurbation had a population of over one million. It includes the municipalities of Zaanstad, Wormerland, Oostzaan, Diemen and Amstelveen only, as well as the municipality of Amsterdam. Greater Amsterdam includes 15 municipalities, and had a population of 1,400,000 in 2021.<ref name="cbs2021" /> Though much larger in area, the population of this area is only slightly larger, because the definition excludes the relatively populous municipality of [[Zaanstad]]. The largest area by population, the [[Amsterdam Metropolitan Area]] (Dutch: Metropoolregio Amsterdam), has a population of 2,33&nbsp;million.<ref name="dosamsterdam">{{Cite web |title=Dienst onderzoek & statistiek Amsterdam |url=http://www.os.amsterdam.nl/tabel/8187/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130614030427/http://www.os.amsterdam.nl/tabel/8187/ |archive-date=14 June 2013}}</ref> It includes for instance Zaanstad, Wormerland, Muiden, Abcoude, Haarlem, Almere and Lelystad but excludes [[Graft-De Rijp]]. Amsterdam is part of the conglomerate metropolitan area [[Randstad]], with a total population of 6,659,300 inhabitants.<ref name="randstad">{{Cite web |date=October 2008 |title=Population |url=http://www.os.amsterdam.nl/tabel/2008_mutatiestatistiek_stand.xls |access-date=8 March 2009 |website=Themes |publisher=City of Amsterdam |format=in Dutch}}{{dead link|date=May 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

Of these various metropolitan area configurations, only the ''Stadsregio Amsterdam'' (City Region of Amsterdam) has a formal governmental status. Its responsibilities include regional spatial planning and the metropolitan public transport concessions.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Stadsregio Amsterdam: English Information |url=http://www.stadsregioamsterdam.nl/algemene-onderdelen/english-information/ |access-date=12 August 2014 |publisher=Stadsregio Amsterdam}}</ref>