Mid-year (30 June) estimates of the usual resident population for 2011 Census Output Areas (OAs) in the South East region of England.

This statistic shows the predicted population of the South West of England, United Kingdom (UK) from 2016 to 2041, based on the 2016 mid-year estimates. The figures show year on year growth, to a total population of approximately *** million by 2041 for this region.

The population of the United Kingdom in 2024 was estimated to be approximately 69.3 million, with over 9.6 million people living in South East England. London had the next highest population, at almost 9.1 million people, followed by the North West England at 7.7 million. With the UK's population generally concentrated in England, most English regions have larger populations than the constituent countries of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, which had populations of 5.5 million, 3.2 million, and 1.9 million respectively. English counties and cities The United Kingdom is a patchwork of various regional units, within England the largest of these are the regions shown here, which show how London, along with the rest of South East England had around 18 million people living there in this year. The next significant regional units in England are the 47 metropolitan and ceremonial counties. After London, the metropolitan counties of the West Midlands, Greater Manchester, and West Yorkshire were the biggest of these counties, due to covering the large urban areas of Birmingham, Manchester, and Leeds respectively. Regional divisions in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland The smaller countries that comprise the United Kingdom each have different local subdivisions. Within Scotland these are called council areas, whereas in Wales the main regional units are called unitary authorities. Scotland's largest Council Area by population is that of Glasgow City at over 650,000, while in Wales, it was the Cardiff Unitary Authority at around 384,000. Northern Ireland, on the other hand, has eleven local government districts, the largest of which is Belfast with a population of approxiamtely 352,000.

This dataset is a single large shapefile of the buildings in southeast England. You can use it to make gorgeous maps or join it with other datasets for some really nice visualizations.

Acknowledgements

This dataset was kindly made available by Alasdair Rae, with the underlying raw data from the British Ordnance Survey. You can find the original shapefiles here, plus shapefiles for the rest of the UK.

National and subnational mid-year population estimates for England and Wales by administrative area, age and sex (including components of population change, median age and population density).

As of 2024, the population density in London was by far the highest number of people per square km in the UK, at *****. Of the other regions and countries which constitute the United Kingdom, North West England was the next most densely populated area at *** people per square kilometer. Scotland, by contrast, is the most sparsely populated country or region in the United Kingdom, with only ** people per square kilometer. Countries, regions, and cities In 2024, the population of the United Kingdom reached **** million. The majority of people in the UK live in England, which had a population of **** million that year, followed by Scotland at *** million, Wales at **** million and finally Northern Ireland at just over *** million. Within England, the South East was the region with the highest population at almost *** million, followed by London at just over *****million. In terms of cities, London is the largest urban agglomeration in the United Kingdom, followed by Manchester, and then Birmingham, although both these cities combined would still have a smaller population than the UK capital. London calling London's huge size in relation to other UK cities is also reflected by its economic performance. In 2023, London's GDP was over ****billion British pounds, around a quarter of UK's overall GDP. In terms of GDP per capita, Londoners had a GDP per head of ****** pounds, compared with an average of ****** for the country as a whole. Productivity, expressed as by output per hour worked, was also far higher in London than the rest of the country. In 2023, London was around *****percent more productive than the rest of the country, with South East England the only other region where productivity was higher than the national average.

The South East region has long been seen as peripheral to the process of devolution in England. Claims that the region lacks a clear identity of its own, that it is in fact a series of economic sub-regions and that London, although governed separately, is the cultural and economic core of the South East, are easy to make and to substantiate. This research project moved beyond these preliminary analyses of the 'problem region' of English Devolution. It focused on the process through which the region is constructed as a network of institutions. It considered the emergent relationship between the three institutions of regional government, the Regional Development Association (RDA), the Government Office and the Regional Assembly, to be critical in the formation and operation of the region. This triad of regional institutions has had an immediate and significant impact on local and county government in the South East. However, the effectiveness of their promotion of the South East's interests on the inter-regional and national scale is more questionable. The research found that institutions of regional government in all parts of England are concerned primarily with physical regeneration and economic development initiatives. However, the policy imperatives for South East England are to address the problems of economic success such as transport congestion, labour shortages and a lack of affordable housing. As such, the regional government of the UK's core economic area is failing to address the fundamental requirements of the regional economy. Institutional links between the South East region and London remain under-developed and as such inter-regional policy on important common issues such as housing and transport are fragmented. There is much scope for London government to develop common strategies with their counterparts in the South East and the East of England, although as yet they have achieved relatively little in this respect. This qualitative data collection comprises six transcriptions from interviews with key informants from county councils and regional government organisations in South East England.

In 2024, the population of the United Kingdom was estimated to have grown by approximately 1.1 percent, with the population growing fastest in North West England, which grew by 1.4 compared with 2023. By contrast, growth in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland was below the UK average, with the population in these countries growing by 0.7 percent, 0.6 percent, and 0.4 percent respectively. Four countries of the UK Within the UK, South East England had the highest population of the regions that comprise the United Kingdom, at more than 9.6 million people. In terms of the four countries of the UK, England had by far the highest population at over 58.6 million people, compared with Scotland (5.5 million) Wales (3.2 million) and Northern Ireland (1.9 million) which have comparatively smaller populations. Of these countries, Scotland was the most sparsely populated, with 71 people per square kilometer, compared with 5,782 people per square km in London. Largest cities in the UK With over nine million people living there, London is by some distance the largest city in the UK. Other large cities in the UK include the West Midlands urban area, centered around the city of Birmingham, as well as Greater Manchester in North West England. With similar populations of around three million people, these two cities, generally considered as the main contenders for being England's second-city. In this year, Scotland's largest city was Glasgow, with Cardiff being the biggest settlement in Wales, and Belfast the largest in Northern Ireland.

According to the 2021 Census, London was the most ethnically diverse region in England and Wales – 63.2% of residents identified with an ethnic minority group.

According to the 2021 Census, 81.7% of the population of England and Wales was white, 9.3% Asian, 4.0% black, 2.9% mixed and 2.1% from other ethnic groups.

The Great Britain Historical Database has been assembled as part of the ongoing Great Britain Historical GIS Project. The project aims to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain at sub-county scales. Further information about the project is available on A Vision of Britain webpages, where users can browse the database's documentation system online.

These data were originally collected by the Censuses of Population for England and Wales, and for Scotland. They were computerised by the Great Britain Historical GIS Project and its collaborators. They form part of the Great Britain Historical Database, which contains a wide range of geographically-located statistics, selected to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain, generally at sub-county scales.

The Census of Population first gathered data on housing "density", i.e. the number of persons in each household relative to the number of rooms, in 1891, although the first year included here is 1901. In 1891, over-crowding was defined as over 2 persons per room; by 1931 this threshold had dropped to 1.5 persons; and by 1961 to 1 person per room. Up to 1931, the data for each locality and date form a table of numbers of persons against numbers of rooms, and these transcriptions sometimes exclude the rows/columns for the very largest households (see the documentation for individual tables). From 1951 onwards, simpler tables simply list numbers of households in each density category (e.g. over 1 person per room and not more than 1.5 persons).

This is a new edition. Data have been added for 1911 and 1951. Wherever possible, ID numbers have been added for counties and districts which match those used in the digital boundary data created by the GBH GIS, greatly simplifying mapping.

Counties were formerly administrative units across the whole of the UK. Due to various administrative restructurings, however, the only administrative areas still referred to as 'counties' are the Non-Metropolitan Districts of England. The English Metropolitan Districts, although no longer administrative units, are also used for statistical purposes.

The Counties area list contains 35 areas of the following constituent English geographies:

• 27 Shire counties
• 6 Metropolitan counties
• Inner London and Outer London

Please visit ONS Beginner's Guide to UK Geography for more info.

The boundaries are available as either extent of the realm (usually this is the Mean Low Water mark but in some cases boundaries extend beyond this to include off shore islands) or

clipped to the coastline (Mean High Water mark).

This statistic shows the estimated population in England in 2017, broken down by region and gender. Out of all regions, the South East had the largest number of inhabitants, being home to an estimated *** million women and *** million men. Closely followed by London with around *** million female and male inhabitants. The North East was the most sparsely populated region, with a population of **** million women and *** million men. For information on the total number of inhabitants in English regions, click here.

These digital boundaries were created by the Great Britain Historical GIS Project and form part of the Great Britain Historical Database, which contains a wide range of geographically-located statistics, selected to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain, generally at sub-county scales.

They represent the boundaries of Registration Counties in England and Wales as in use at the date of each Census of Population between 1851 and 1911, 1911 being the last census to report extensively on these units.

In 2024, the population of the United Kingdom reached 69.3 million, compared with 68.5 million in 2023. The UK population has more than doubled since 1871 when just under 31.5 million lived in the UK and has grown by around 10.4 million since the start of the twenty-first century. For most of the twentieth century, the UK population steadily increased, with two noticeable drops in population occurring during World War One (1914-1918) and in World War Two (1939-1945). Demographic trends in postwar Britain After World War Two, Britain and many other countries in the Western world experienced a 'baby boom,' with a postwar peak of 1.02 million live births in 1947. Although the number of births fell between 1948 and 1955, they increased again between the mid-1950s and mid-1960s, with more than one million people born in 1964. Since 1964, however, the UK birth rate has fallen from 18.8 births per 1,000 people to a low of just 10.2 in 2020. As a result, the UK population has gotten significantly older, with the country's median age increasing from 37.9 years in 2001 to 40.7 years in 2022. What are the most populated areas of the UK? The vast majority of people in the UK live in England, which had a population of 58.6 million people in 2024. By comparison, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland had populations of 5.5 million, 3.2 million, and 1.9 million, respectively. Within England, South East England had the largest population, at over 9.6 million, followed by the UK's vast capital city of London, at almost 9.1 million. London is far larger than any other UK city in terms of urban agglomeration, with just four other cities; Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, and Glasgow, boasting populations that exceed one million people.

Dataset showing gritting routes maintained by Oxfordshire County Council.

According to a 2021 census, the South Downs had the largest resident population among the ** national parks located in England and Wales that year with ******* residents. Stretching across the English counties of Hampshire, West Sussex, and East Sussex, the South Downs had over **************** more residents than any other English or Welsh national park in 2021, as well as over ************ more residents within its borders than a decade earlier. Among Welsh national parks, the Brecon Beacons, known in Welsh as Bannau Brycheiniog, had the largest population amounting to ****** in 2021.

This dataset shows different breakdowns of London's resident population by their country of birth. Data used comes from ONS' Annual Population Survey (APS). The APS has a sample of around 320,000 people in the UK (around 28,000 in London). As such all figures must be treated with some caution. 95% confidence interval levels are provided. Numbers have been rounded to the nearest thousand and figures for smaller populations have been suppressed. Four files are available for download: Country of Birth - Borough: Shows country of birth estimates in their broad groups such as European Union, South East Asia, North Africa, etc. broken down to borough level. Detailed Country of Birth - London: Shows country of birth estimates for specific countries such as France, Bangladesh, Nigeria, etc. available for London as a whole Demography Update 09-2015: A GLA Demography report that uses APS data to analyse the trends in London for the period 2004 to 2014. A supporting data file is also provided. Country of Birth Borough 2004-2016 Analysis Tool: A tool produced by GLA Demography that allows users to explore different breakdowns of country of birth data. An accompanying Tableau visualisation tool has also been produced which maps data from 2004 to 2015. 2011 Census Country of Birth data can be found here: https://data.london.gov.uk/census/themes/diversity/ Nationality data can be found here: https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/nationality Nationality refers to that stated by the respondent during the interview. Country of birth is the country in which they were born. It is possible that an individual’s nationality may change, but the respondent’s country of birth cannot change. This means that country of birth gives a more robust estimate of change over time.

The median age of the population in London was 35.7 years in 2024, the lowest median age among regions of the United Kingdom. By contrast, South West England had a median age of 43.7, the highest in the UK.

Census 2021 rounded population and household estimates for local authorities in England and Wales were released on 28 June 2022. The bulletin explored change over time, regional variations and the composition of the population by sex and by five-year age group.

This update provides unrounded population and household estimates, by sex and single year of age. The accompanying data are provided at even more detailed geographies, down to Output Areas where possible.

• On Census Day, 21 March 2021, the size of the usual resident population in England and Wales was 59,597,542 (56,490,048 in England and 3,107,494 in Wales); this was the largest population ever recorded through a census in England and Wales. The population of England and Wales grew by more than 3.5 million (6.3%) since the last census in 2011, when it was 56,075,912.

• The population grew in each of the nine regions of England and also grew in Wales; the region with the highest population growth was the East of England, which increased by 8.3% from 2011 (a gain of approximately 488,000 residents).

• There were 30,420,202 women (51.0% of the population) and 29,177,340 men (49.0%) in England and Wales.

• There were 24,783,199 households in England and Wales on Census Day; the number of households increased by more than 1.4 million since 2011 (6.1%), when there were 23,366,044 households.

• The median age in England and Wales was 40 years (40 years in England, 42 years in Wales); this is higher than the median age of 39 years across England and Wales in 2011.

• The region of England with the highest median age was the South West (44 years) and the region of England with the lowest median age was London (35 years).

• Across England and Wales, the local authorities with the highest median age were North Norfolk (54 years), Rother (53 years) and East Lindsey (52 years).

• The local authority with the lowest median age was Tower Hamlets (30 years), followed by Nottingham, Cambridge, Oxford and Manchester (all 31 years).