Britain and France are quite unique in the sense of the gap between the primary city and the others. I can't think of any other countries so dominated by their primary city.
There is a huge drop off between London and the secondary cities (is Manchester or Birmingham next on the list? Glasgow? In Canada, you never hear about secondary British cities unless for soccer or the Beatles [Liverpool]).
Ditto for Paris and the secondaries (Lyon, Marseille, etc.)
Whereas Italy (Milan, Rome, etc.), Germany (Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, etc.), Spain (Madrid, Barcelona), etc. (not to mention, USA, Canada, Australia, Russia, etc.) are much less concentrated.
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The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts. (Bertrand Russell)
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