In 2023, almost nine million people lived in Greater London, making it the most populated ceremonial county in England. The West Midlands Metropolitan County, which contains the large city of Birmingham, was the second-largest county at 2.98 million inhabitants, followed by Greater Manchester and then West Yorkshire with populations of 2.95 million and 2.4 million, respectively. Kent, Essex, and Hampshire were the three next-largest counties in terms of population, each with around 1.89 million people. A patchwork of regions England is just one of the four countries that compose the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with England, Scotland and Wales making up Great Britain. England is therefore not to be confused with Great Britain or the United Kingdom as a whole. Within England, the next subdivisions are the nine regions of England, containing various smaller units such as unitary authorities, metropolitan counties and non-metropolitan districts. The counties in this statistic, however, are based on the ceremonial counties of England as defined by the Lieutenancies Act of 1997. Regions of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland Like England, the other countries of the United Kingdom have their own regional subdivisions, although with some different terminology. Scotland’s subdivisions are council areas, while Wales has unitary authorities, and Northern Ireland has local government districts. As of 2022, the most-populated Scottish council area was Glasgow City, with over 622,000 inhabitants. In Wales, Cardiff had the largest population among its unitary authorities, and in Northern Ireland, Belfast was the local government area with the most people living there.
In the years 1210 to 1212, a total of 5,334.40 pounds was spent on the hiring of knights' services, by English royalty and nobility. The counties with the highest amount of money spent on knights' fees were Yorkshire (which is also the largest county in England), Norfolk and Suffolk combined, and Devon. Taking into account the change in purchasing power of one British pounds to convert these figures into modern values, the above figure was equal to roughly 10 million pounds* in 2018.
The population of the United Kingdom in 2023 was estimated to be approximately 68.3 million in 2023, with almost 9.48 million people living in South East England. London had the next highest population, at over 8.9 million people, followed by the North West England at 7.6 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, 3.16 million, and 1.92 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 622,000, while in Wales, it was the Cardiff Unitary Authority at around 372,000. Northern Ireland, on the other hand, has eleven local government districts, the largest of which is Belfast with a population of around 348,000.
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This dataset is part of the Geographical repository maintained by Opendatasoft. This dataset contains data for counties and unitary authorities in the United Kingdom.In 1974 a two-tier administrative structure of (shire and metropolitan) counties and non-metropolitan districts was set up across England and Wales, except for the Isles of Scilly and Greater London. Council functions were divided according to the level at which they could be practised most efficiently. As a consequence, counties took on functions including education, transport, strategic planning, fire services, consumer protection, refuse disposal, smallholdings, social services and libraries, whereas each LAD had responsibility for local planning, housing, local highways, building, environmental health, refuse collection and cemeteries. Responsibility for recreation and cultural matters was divided between the two tiers. Following the Local Government Reorganisation in the 1990s, major changes were implemented to create administrations most appropriate to the needs of the area concerned. The key feature of this change was the introduction of unitary authorities: single-tier administrations with responsibility for all areas of local government. Between 1995 and 1998 these were established in a number of areas across the country, especially in medium-sized urban areas, whilst other areas retained a two-tier structure. Further local government reorganisation occurred in 2009 and there are currently 57 unitary authorities (UA) in England, and 25 shire counties split into 188 (non-metropolitan) districts. Note that due to the changes in Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly are considered a UA for coding purposes.Processors and tools are using this data.EnhancementsAdd ISO 3166-3 codes.Simplify geometries to provide better performance across the services.Add administrative hierarchy.
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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).
As of 2023, the population density in London was by far the highest number of people per square km in the UK, at 5,690. Of the other regions and countries which constitute the United Kingdom, North West England was the next most densely populated area at 533 people per square kilometer. Scotland, by contrast, is the most sparsely populated country or region in the United Kingdom, with only 70 people per square kilometer. UK population over 67 million According to the official mid-year population estimate, the population of the United Kingdom was just almost 67.6 million in 2022. Most of the population lived in England, where an estimated 57.1 million people resided, followed by Scotland at 5.44 million, Wales at 3.13 million and finally Northern Ireland at just over 1.9 million. Within England, the South East was the region with the highest population at almost 9.38 million, followed by the London region at around 8.8 million. In terms of urban areas, Greater London is the largest city in the United Kingdom, followed by Greater Manchester and Birmingham in the North West and West Midlands regions of England. London calling London's huge size in relation to other UK cities is also reflected by its economic performance. In 2021, London's GDP was approximately 494 billion British pounds, almost a quarter of UK GDP overall. In terms of GDP per capita, Londoners had a GDP per head of 56,431 pounds, compared with an average of 33,224 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 2021, London was around 33.2 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.
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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 from the Annual Population Survey.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/methodology/geography/licenceshttps://www.ons.gov.uk/methodology/geography/licences
(File Size - 5 KB). The 2011 rural-urban classification (RUC) of counties in England is based on the 2011 RUC of Output Areas (OA) published in August 2013, and allows users to create a rural/urban view of county level products. The classification was produced by the University of Sheffield and was sponsored by a cross-Government working group comprising Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Department of the Communities and Local Government and Office for National Statistics.
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This dataset is about book subjects and is filtered where the books includes Yorkshire: Britain's largest county: the Dales, moors, coast and industrial areas, featuring 10 columns including authors, average publication date, book publishers, book subject, and books. The preview is ordered by number of books (descending).
How would you define the boundaries of a town or city in England and Wales in 2016?
Maybe your definition would be based on its population size, geographic extent or where the industry and services are located. This was a question the ONS had to consider when creating a new statistical geography called Towns and Cities.
In reality, the ability to delimit the boundaries of a city or town is difficult!
Major Towns and Cities
The new statistical geography, Towns and Cities has been created based on population size and the extent of the built environment. It contains 112 towns and cities in England and Wales, where the residential and/or workday population > 75,000 people at the 2011 Census. It has been constructed using the existing Built-Up Area boundary set produced by Ordnance Survey in 2011.
This swipe map shows where the towns and cities and built-up areas are different. Just swipe the bar from left to right.
The blue polygons are the towns and cities and the purple polygons are the built-up areas.
The unemployment rate of the West Midlands Metropolitan County was 5.5 percent in the twelve months to September 2024, which was the highest among England's six metropolitan counties and Greater London. By contrast, South Yorkshire, which includes the major city of Sheffield, had the lowest unemployment rate, at three percent.
Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.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. This study assembles historical data from the National Insurance system, plus some data from trade union welfare systems gathered and published by the Board of Trade Labour Department. The data were computerised by the Great Britain Historical GIS Project. 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. Most of the data here was originally published by the Ministry of Labour, either in the Labour Gazette, later the Employment Gazette, or in the specialised Local Unemployment Index (LUI), published between 1927 and 1939. The largest dataset here is a complete transcription of the LUI data for each January, April, July and October from January 1927 to July 1939 inclusive, the most detailed information that exists on the geography of the inter-war depression, other than the 1931 census. Unlike census data, these data concern a wide range of regions, "divisions", "districts", towns and sometimes areas within towns, seldom defined (the LUI data do list counties). The study therefore also includes two specially constructed gazetteers which attempt to provide towns and areas within towns with point coordinates. Another limitation is that these data generally provide counts of the unemployed, but not counts of the insured, or numbers in work, so calculation of rates often requires data from other sources such as the census. The study also includes two transcriptions from unpublished tabulations in the National Archives, relating to unemployment in 1928 and 1933. Please note: this study does not include information on named individuals and would therefore not be useful for personal family history research.For the second edition (February 2024), the data was updated; data running up to 1974 has been added and the former study 3711 has been incorporated.
London was by far the largest urban agglomeration in the United Kingdom in 2023, with an estimated population of 9.65 million people, more than three times as large as Manchester, the UK’s second-biggest urban agglomeration. The agglomerations of Birmingham and Leeds / Bradford had the third and fourth-largest populations respectively, while the biggest city in Scotland, Glasgow, was the fifth largest. Largest cities in Europe Two cities in Europe had larger urban areas than London, with the Russian capital Moscow having a population of almost 12.7 million. The city of Paris, located just over 200 miles away from London, was the second-largest city in Europe, with a population of more than 11.2 million people. Paris was followed by London in terms of population-size, and then by the Spanish cities of Madrid and Barcelona, at 6.75 million and 5.68 million people respectively. Russia's second-biggest city; St. Petersburg had a population of 5.56 million, followed by Rome at 4.3 million, and Berlin at 3.5 million. London’s population growth Throughout the 1980s, the population of London fluctuated from a high of 6.81 million people in 1981 to a low of 6.73 million inhabitants in 1988. During the 1990s, the population of London increased once again, growing from 6.8 million at the start of the decade to 7.15 million by 1999. London's population has continued to grow since the turn of the century, reaching a peak of 8.96 million people in 2019, and is forecast to reach 9.8 million by 2043.
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Rural Urban Classification of a County and population in that County that is a 'Major Urban', 'Large Urban', 'Other Urban', 'Large Market Town' 'Rural Town Population' 'Village' and Dispersed.
Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS)
Publisher: Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)
Geographies: County/Unitary Authority
Geographic coverage: England
Type of data: Administrative data
Open Government Licence 3.0http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/
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Police recorded crime figures by Police Force Area and Community Safety Partnership areas (which equate in the majority of instances, to local authorities).
The median age of the population in London was 35.9 years in 2023, the lowest median age among regions of the United Kingdom. By contrast, South West England had a median age of 43.9, the highest in the UK.
The employment rate of London was 74.5 percent in the twelve months to March 2024, which was higher than in England's metropolitan counties, that cover six major urban areas in the country. Of these counties, the West Midlands had the lowest employment rate of 69.6 percent.
Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.
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.
This study assembles historical data from the National Insurance system, plus some data from trade union welfare systems gathered and published by the Board of Trade Labour Department. The data were computerised by the Great Britain Historical GIS Project. 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.
Most of the data here was originally published by the Ministry of Labour, either in the Labour Gazette, later the Employment Gazette, or in the specialised Local Unemployment Index (LUI), published between 1927 and 1939. The largest dataset here is a complete transcription of the LUI data for each January, April, July and October from January 1927 to July 1939 inclusive, the most detailed information that exists on the geography of the inter-war depression, other than the 1931 census.
Unlike census data, these data concern a wide range of regions, "divisions", "districts", towns and sometimes areas within towns, seldom defined (the LUI data do list counties). The study therefore also includes two specially constructed gazetteers which attempt to provide towns and areas within towns with point coordinates. Another limitation is that these data generally provide counts of the unemployed, but not counts of the insured, or numbers in work, so calculation of rates often requires data from other sources such as the census. The study also includes two transcriptions from unpublished tabulations in the National Archives, relating to unemployment in 1928 and 1933.
Please note: this study does not include information on named individuals and would therefore not be useful for personal family history research.
For the second edition (February 2024), the data was updated; data running up to 1974 has been added and the former study 3711 has been incorporated.
- Trade Union Unemployment Percentages for four sectors (capenters and joiners, engineers, printing, and shipbuilding), 1902-14.
- Annual unemployment rates 1923-38 for 8 "divisions".
- Local Unemployment Index, 1927-39 arranged by age and sex.
- Unemployment statistics 1945-74 for towns and development areas from the Labour Gazette.
- Unpublished data on casuals, temporarily stopped, etc in 1928.
- Unpublished data on composition of the unemployed in January,1933 arranged by sex.
- Local government districts which were Special Areas in 1934.
The gross domestic product of London was approximately 508 billion British pounds in 2022, far bigger than any other major metropolitan area of the United Kingdom in that year. The metropolitan area with the second-largest GDP was Greater Manchester, at around 90.8 billion British pounds,
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In 2023, almost nine million people lived in Greater London, making it the most populated ceremonial county in England. The West Midlands Metropolitan County, which contains the large city of Birmingham, was the second-largest county at 2.98 million inhabitants, followed by Greater Manchester and then West Yorkshire with populations of 2.95 million and 2.4 million, respectively. Kent, Essex, and Hampshire were the three next-largest counties in terms of population, each with around 1.89 million people. A patchwork of regions England is just one of the four countries that compose the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with England, Scotland and Wales making up Great Britain. England is therefore not to be confused with Great Britain or the United Kingdom as a whole. Within England, the next subdivisions are the nine regions of England, containing various smaller units such as unitary authorities, metropolitan counties and non-metropolitan districts. The counties in this statistic, however, are based on the ceremonial counties of England as defined by the Lieutenancies Act of 1997. Regions of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland Like England, the other countries of the United Kingdom have their own regional subdivisions, although with some different terminology. Scotland’s subdivisions are council areas, while Wales has unitary authorities, and Northern Ireland has local government districts. As of 2022, the most-populated Scottish council area was Glasgow City, with over 622,000 inhabitants. In Wales, Cardiff had the largest population among its unitary authorities, and in Northern Ireland, Belfast was the local government area with the most people living there.