Let P(N) be the power set of N. We say that a function µ ⋆ : P(N) → R is an upper density if, for all X, Y ⊆ N and h, k ∈ N + , the following hold: (f1) µ ⋆ (N) = 1; (f2)We show that the upper asymptotic, upper logarithmic, upper Banach, upper Buck, upper Pólya, and upper analytic densities, together with all upper α-densities (with α a real parameter ≥ −1), are upper densities in the sense of our definition. Moreover, we establish the mutual independence of axioms (f1)-(f5), and we investigate various properties of upper densities (and related functions) under the assumption that (f2) is replaced by the weaker condition that µ ⋆ (X) ≤ 1 for every X ⊆ N.Overall, this allows us to extend and generalize results so far independently derived for some of the classical upper densities mentioned above, thus introducing a certain amount of unification into the theory.