Strasbourg is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of Eastern France and the official seat of the European Parliament. Located at the border with Germany in the historic region of Alsace, it is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin department.
In 2018, the city proper had 284,677 inhabitants and both the Eurométropole de Strasbourg and the Arrondissement of Strasbourg had 500,510 inhabitants. Strasbourg's metropolitan area had a population of 790,087 in 2017, making it the ninth-largest metro area in France and home to 13% of the Grand Est region's inhabitants. The transnational Eurodistrict Strasbourg-Ortenau had a population of 958,421 inhabitants. Strasbourg is one of the de facto four main capitals of the European Union, as it is the seat of several European institutions, such as the European Parliament, the Eurocorps and the European Ombudsman of the European Union. An organization separate from the European Union, the Council of Europe is also located in the city.
Together with Basel, Geneva, The Hague and New York City, Strasbourg is among the few cities in the world that is not a state capital that hosts international organisations of the first order.