The population of London reached over **** million in 2024, an increase of almost *** million people when compared with the early 1980s. Throughout the 1980s, the population of the United Kingdom's capital grew at a relatively slow rate, before accelerating to a much faster rate in the 1990s. London is by far the largest city / urban agglomeration in the United Kingdom, more than three times larger than the next largest cities of Manchester and Birmingham. London’s forecasted population is expected to continue growing at much the same pace it has been growing since the mid-1990s and reach almost *** million by 2042. London boroughs As of 2024, the London borough with the highest population was Croydon, at approximately *******, followed by Barnet at *******. Overall, London is divided into 33 different boroughs, with London's historic center, the City of London, having by far the smallest population, at just ******. Residents of the City of London, however, have the highest average median weekly earnings among all of London's boroughs, at ***** pounds per week, compared with just *** pounds per week in Redbridge, the lowest average weekly earnings among London boroughs. While the overall unemployment rate for London was 5** percent in early 2025, this ranged from ****percent in Newham, to just *** percent in Richmond upon Thames.
Economic imbalance Aside from being the UK's largest city in terms of population, London is also undoubtedly the UK's cultural, political and economic center. As of 2023, the GDP of Greater London was approximately *** billion British pounds, almost a quarter of the UK's overall GDP. In the same year, GDP per person in London was ****** pounds compared with the UK average of ****** pounds. Additionally, productivity in London is far higher than the UK average. As measured by output per hour worked, London was **** percent more productive than the rest of the UK.

Historical dataset of population level and growth rate for the London, UK metro area from 1950 to 2025.

Between 1500 and 1800, London grew to be the largest city in Western Europe, with its population growing almost 22 times larger in this period. London would eventually overtake Constantinople as Europe's largest in the 1700s, before becoming the largest city in the world (ahead of Beijing) in the early-1800s.

The most populous cities in this period were the capitals of European empires, with Paris, Amsterdam, and Vienna growing to become the largest cities, alongside the likes of Lisbon and Madrid in Iberia, and Naples or Venice in Italy. Many of northwestern Europe's largest cities in 1500 would eventually be overtaken by others not shown here, such as the port cities of Hamburg, Marseilles or Rotterdam, or more industrial cities such as Berlin, Birmingham, and Munich.

Annual historical data for UK residents by broad country of birth and citizenship groups, broken down by UK country, local authority, unitary authority, metropolitan and London boroughs, and counties.

Estimates of London's population between 1801 and 2021 (persons present 1801 to 1971 and usual residents for 1981 to 2021) derived from historic Census data.

Figures for years before 1931 are estimates by the Greater London Council published in Research Memorandum 413, 'The Changing Population of the London Boroughs'. Figures for 1931, 1951, and 1961 were published in 'Census 1961 Greater London Tables'; Figures for 1971 to 2021 are taken from individual censuses.

Estimates of London's population between 1801 and 2001 (persons present 1801 to 1991 and residents for 2001 onwards) derived from historic Census data.

Sources: years to 1971 - Greater London Council Research Memorandum 413, The Changing Population of the London Boroughs; 1981 Census Small Area Statistics, Table 1; 1991 Census Small Area Statistics, Table 1. Figure for Year-1939 is a mid-year estimate for the year 1939. Figure for Year-2001 onwards is the number of residents because the number of persons present is not available from 2001. Note that totals for Greater London may not match due to rounding errors. Figures are estimates to the nearest thousand.

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.

National and subnational mid-year population estimates for the UK and its constituent countries by administrative area, age and sex (including components of population change, median age and population density).

By 2047 it is expected that there will be approximately *** million men and **** million women living in London, compared with *** million men and **** million women in 2025. By 2046, the population of the United Kingdom as a whole is forecast to reach 76 million, compared with around 69 million in 2026. London’s population since 1981 Between 1981 and 1988, the population of London declined from *** million, to *** million. This period of gradual population decline was, however, followed by a sustained era of population growth, with London's population reaching *** million in 2023. There was a slight fall in London's population between 2019 and 2021, when the population declined by around 89,000. As of 2023, the largest age group in the city was that of 25 to 29-year-olds, of which there were around ******* people. London's boroughs London is currently split up into 32 boroughs, as well as the historic center of the city, the City of London. The City of London had a population of around ****** people in 2023, compared with ******* in Croydon, the London Borough with the highest population that year. London's historic center also had the highest average weekly salary in the city, at ***** pounds, compared with *** pounds in the Borough of Redbridge.

Population Estimate, Total, Hispanic or Latino (5-year estimate) in New London County, CT was 30806.00000 Persons in January of 2021, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, Population Estimate, Total, Hispanic or Latino (5-year estimate) in New London County, CT reached a record high of 30806.00000 in January of 2021 and a record low of 17576.00000 in January of 2009. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for Population Estimate, Total, Hispanic or Latino (5-year estimate) in New London County, CT - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on November of 2025.

Resident Population in New London County, CT was 268.80500 Thous. of Persons in January of 2021, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, Resident Population in New London County, CT reached a record high of 274.17300 in January of 2012 and a record low of 230.65400 in January of 1970. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for Resident Population in New London County, CT - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on November of 2025.

United Kingdom Population: London data was reported at 8,825.001 Person th in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 8,769.659 Person th for 2016. United Kingdom Population: London data is updated yearly, averaging 7,154.000 Person th from Jun 1971 (Median) to 2017, with 47 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 8,825.001 Person th in 2017 and a record low of 6,729.000 Person th in 1988. United Kingdom Population: London data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Office for National Statistics. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United Kingdom – Table UK.G001: Population.

This project examines the crucial role of family and household in the social and economic transformations that took place in London in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Population growth, immigration, urbanisation, and commercialisation produced new patterns of sociability, gender relations, employment, and domestic lifestyle. The family was central to all these developments, but has been little studied in detail. The project will reconstruct and analyse the dense matrix of families, households, properties, and buildings in sample areas of the capital, and trace their evolution over time, gaining new insights into social structures and the agents and circumstances of change.

As of 2020, 131 thousand Italians were living in London. From 2015 to 2017, the number of Italian citizens who lived in the English Capital increased steadily. However, the Italian population living in London fell between 2018 and 2019. Nonetheless, the United Kingdom is the most popular destination country among Italian emigrants. During 2019, about 19 percent of all Italians who moved abroad notably chose the United Kingdom.

Student migration

The United Kingdom is a very common destination among young Italians in particular. In addition, a large percentage of emigrants who moved to the United Kingdom achieved a higher education. Specifically, 31 percent of Italians who live in the United Kingdom hold a university degree. However, the countries with most Italian emigrants holding a university degree are Brazil, Ireland, and the United States.

Historical migration of Italians

Currently, Argentina has the largest Italian population living abroad. Historically, Argentina was one of the most important destinations of Italian emigrants, especially during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Currently, Argentina ranks only tenth among the main destination countries of Italians. The most common destinations are, together with the United Kingdom, Germany and France.

Update 29-04-2020: The data is now split into two files based on the variable collection frequency (monthly and yearly). Additional variables added: area size in hectares, number of jobs in the area, number of people living in the area.

Context

I have been inspired by Xavier and his work on Barcelona to explore the city of London! 🇬🇧 💂

Content

The datasets is primarily centered around the housing market of London. However, it contains a lot of additional relevant data: - Monthly average house prices - Yearly number of houses - Yearly number of houses sold - Yearly percentage of households that recycle - Yearly life satisfaction - Yearly median salary of the residents of the area - Yearly mean salary of the residents of the area - Monthly number of crimes committed - Yearly number of jobs - Yearly number of people living in the area - Area size in hectares

The data is split by areas of London called boroughs (a flag exists to identify these), but some of the variables have other geographical UK regions for reference (like England, North East, etc.). There have been no changes made to the data except for melting it into a long format from the original tables.

Acknowledgements

The data has been extracted from London Datastore. It is released under UK Open Government License v2 and v3. The underlining datasets can be found here: https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/uk-house-price-index https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/number-and-density-of-dwellings-by-borough https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/subjective-personal-well-being-borough https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/household-waste-recycling-rates-borough https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/earnings-place-residence-borough https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/recorded_crime_summary https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/jobs-and-job-density-borough https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/ons-mid-year-population-estimates-custom-age-tables

Cover photo by Frans Ruiter from Unsplash

Inspiration

The dataset lends itself for extensive exploratory data analysis. It could also be a great supervised learning regression problem to predict house price changes of different boroughs over time.

In 1800, the population of the area of modern-day Bangladesh was estimated to be just over 19 million, a figure which would rise steadily throughout the 19th century, reaching over 26 million by 1900. At the time, Bangladesh was the eastern part of the Bengal region in the British Raj, and had the most-concentrated Muslim population in the subcontinent's east. At the turn of the 20th century, the British colonial administration believed that east Bengal was economically lagging behind the west, and Bengal was partitioned in 1905 as a means of improving the region's development. East Bengal then became the only Muslim-majority state in the eastern Raj, which led to socioeconomic tensions between the Hindu upper classes and the general population. Bengal Famine During the Second World War, over 2.5 million men from across the British Raj enlisted in the British Army and their involvement was fundamental to the war effort. The war, however, had devastating consequences for the Bengal region, as the famine of 1943-1944 resulted in the deaths of up to three million people (with over two thirds thought to have been in the east) due to starvation and malnutrition-related disease. As the population boomed in the 1930s, East Bengal's mismanaged and underdeveloped agricultural sector could not sustain this growth; by 1942, food shortages spread across the region, millions began migrating in search of food and work, and colonial mismanagement exacerbated this further. On the brink of famine in early-1943, authorities in India called for aid and permission to redirect their own resources from the war effort to combat the famine, however these were mostly rejected by authorities in London. While the exact extent of each of these factors on causing the famine remains a topic of debate, the general consensus is that the British War Cabinet's refusal to send food or aid was the most decisive. Food shortages did not dissipate until late 1943, however famine deaths persisted for another year. Partition to independence Following the war, the movement for Indian independence reached its final stages as the process of British decolonization began. Unrest between the Raj's Muslim and Hindu populations led to the creation of two separate states in1947; the Muslim-majority regions became East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and West Pakistan (now Pakistan), separated by the Hindu-majority India. Although East Pakistan's population was larger, power lay with the military in the west, and authorities grew increasingly suppressive and neglectful of the eastern province in the following years. This reached a tipping point when authorities failed to respond adequately to the Bhola cyclone in 1970, which claimed over half a million lives in the Bengal region, and again when they failed to respect the results of the 1970 election, in which the Bengal party Awami League won the majority of seats. Bangladeshi independence was claimed the following March, leading to a brutal war between East and West Pakistan that claimed between 1.5 and three million deaths in just nine months. The war also saw over half of the country displaced, widespread atrocities, and the systematic rape of hundreds of thousands of women. As the war spilled over into India, their forces joined on the side of Bangladesh, and Pakistan was defeated two weeks later. An additional famine in 1974 claimed the lives of several hundred thousand people, meaning that the early 1970s was one of the most devastating periods in the country's history. Independent Bangladesh In the first decades of independence, Bangladesh's political hierarchy was particularly unstable and two of its presidents were assassinated in military coups. Since transitioning to parliamentary democracy in the 1990s, things have become comparatively stable, although political turmoil, violence, and corruption are persistent challenges. As Bangladesh continues to modernize and industrialize, living standards have increased and individual wealth has risen. Service industries have emerged to facilitate the demands of Bangladesh's developing economy, while manufacturing industries, particularly textiles, remain strong. Declining fertility rates have seen natural population growth fall in recent years, although the influx of Myanmar's Rohingya population due to the displacement crisis has seen upwards of one million refugees arrive in the country since 2017. In 2020, it is estimated that Bangladesh has a population of approximately 165 million people.

Population Estimate, Total, Not Hispanic or Latino, White Alone (5-year estimate) in New London County, CT was 199072.00000 Persons in January of 2021, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, Population Estimate, Total, Not Hispanic or Latino, White Alone (5-year estimate) in New London County, CT reached a record high of 216276.00000 in January of 2009 and a record low of 199072.00000 in January of 2021. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for Population Estimate, Total, Not Hispanic or Latino, White Alone (5-year estimate) in New London County, CT - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on October of 2025.

Population Estimate, Total, Not Hispanic or Latino, Black or African American Alone (5-year estimate) in New London County, CT was 13981.00000 Persons in January of 2021, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, Population Estimate, Total, Not Hispanic or Latino, Black or African American Alone (5-year estimate) in New London County, CT reached a record high of 14446.00000 in January of 2014 and a record low of 13504.00000 in January of 2011. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for Population Estimate, Total, Not Hispanic or Latino, Black or African American Alone (5-year estimate) in New London County, CT - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on November of 2025.

Mid-year (30 June) estimates of the usual resident population for Lower layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs) in England and Wales by single year of age and sex.

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.