In 2024, over 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 just over 3.03 million, closely followed by Greater Manchester at three million, and then West Yorkshire with a population of 2.4 million. Kent, Essex, and Hampshire were the three next-largest counties in terms of population, each with just over 1.9 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 2024, the most-populated Scottish council area was Glasgow City, with over 650,000 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.

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 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 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.

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.

UK residents by individual countries of birth and citizenship, broken down by UK country, local authority, unitary authority, metropolitan and London boroughs, and counties. Estimates from the Annual Population Survey.

Overview of the most recent population estimates, projections Census information on the demographics of the County

This data contains household 2012 based population projections by district. The methodology for the 2012-based household projections was based upon the ‘2011-based interim’ and ‘2008-based’ household projections. A description is provided in the Methodology Document. The methodology uses the latest ONS sub-national population projections and incorporates information from the Census 2011 on household population and numbers down to local authority level and some data on household formation rates at a national level. Further work will investigate including detailed analysis of household formation down to local authority level. In the meantime, these projections provide the most up to date and nationally consistent estimates. As with the previous projections, the methodology is split into two stages: Stage One produces summary household numbers based on long-term demographic trends and Stage Two gives a more detailed breakdown of household type. This release presents results from Stage One only, with Stage Two outputs to follow as soon as possible. The assumptions underlying national household and population projections are based on demographic trends. They are not forecasts as, for example, they do not attempt to predict the impact of future Government policies, changing economic circumstances or other factors that might have influence household growth. The projections show the household numbers that would result if the assumptions based in previous demographic trends in the population and rates of household formation were to be realised in practice. This data was derived from published live tables available for download as an Excel spreadsheet.

The latest population figures produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on 28 June 2018 show that an estimated 534,800 people live in Bradford District – an increase of 2,300 people (0.4%) since the previous year.

Bradford District is the fifth largest metropolitan district (in terms of population) in England, after Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield and Manchester although the District’s population growth is lower than other major cities.

The increase in the District’s population is largely due to “natural change”- there have been around 3,300 more births than deaths, although this has been balanced by a larger number of people leaving Bradford to live in other parts of the UK than coming to live here and a lower number of international migrants. In 2016/17 the net internal migration was -2,700 and the net international migration was 1,700.

A large proportion of Bradford’s population is dominated by the younger age groups. More than one-quarter (29%) of the District’s population is aged less than 20 and nearly seven in ten people are aged less than 50. Bradford has the highest percentage of the under 16 population in England after the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, Slough Borough Council and Luton Borough Council.

The population of Bradford is ethnically diverse. The largest proportion of the district’s population (63.9%) identifies themselves as White British. The district has the largest proportion of people of Pakistani ethnic origin (20.3%) in England.

The largest religious group in Bradford is Christian (45.9% of the population). Nearly one quarter of the population (24.7%) are Muslim. Just over one fifth of the district’s population (20.7%) stated that they had no religion.

There are 216,813 households in the Bradford district. Most households own their own home (29.3% outright and 35.7% with a mortgage). The percentage of privately rented households is 18.1%. 29.6% of households were single person households.

Information from the Annual Population Survey in December 2017 found that Bradford has 228,100 people aged 16-64 in employment. At 68% this is significantly lower than the national rate (74.9%). 91,100 (around 1 in 3 people) aged 16-64, are not in work. The claimant count rate is 2.9% which is higher than the regional and national averages.

Skill levels are improving with 26.5% of 16 to 74 year olds educated to degree level. 18% of the district’s employed residents work in retail/wholesale. The percentage of people working in manufacturing has continued to decrease from 13.4% in 2009 to 11.9% in 2016. This is still higher than the average for Great Britain (8.1%).

Population estimates provide statistics on the size and age structure of the population in the UK at country, region, county, and local authority level. They are the official source of estimated population size in between censuses and inform a wide range of official statistics.Persons included are all those people who usually live in an area, regardless of nationality. Arriving international migrants are included in the usually resident population if they remain in the UK for at least a year and emigrants are excluded if they remain outside the UK for at least a year. Students and school boarders are included at their term time address.PurposeThese Small Area Population Estimates are the smallest available building blocks for population estimates. The estimates can be aggregated to higher geographies including 2021 Lower Layer Super Output Areas (LSOA21), 2021 Middle Layer Super Output Areas (MSOA21), wards and any other higher geography or self-defined area. The estimates can also be aggregated to any age group. Lineage (i.e. how the data was produced)National population estimates broken down into small geographical areas. The main products are the estimates for Super Output Areas (SOAs), which are based on Census 2021 and rolled forward annually using a ratio change methodology. This approach uses the change in the population recorded in the Personal Demographics Service (based on GP registrations) as an indicator of the change in the true population. Estimates for Lower layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs) by broad ages and Middle layer Super Output Areas (MSOAs) by five-year age groups hold accredited official statistics status. Estimates at greater levels of disaggregation, for example by single year of age, are provided as supporting information only. More information can be found in Small Area Population Estimates: Summary of methodology review and research update.Population of BristolOffice for National Statistics (ONS), released 7 November 2025, Population estimates by output areas, electoral, health and other geographies, England and Wales - Office for National StatisticsPopulation estimates are also available through Nomis. Nomis holds additional geographic breakdowns not published on the ONS website, such as by major towns and cities and by built-up areas.

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.

Population estimates provide statistics on the size and age structure of the population in the UK at country, region, county, and local authority level. They are the official source of estimated population size in between censuses and inform a wide range of official statistics.Persons included are all those people who usually live in an area, regardless of nationality. Arriving international migrants are included in the usually resident population if they remain in the UK for at least a year and emigrants are excluded if they remain outside the UK for at least a year. Students and school boarders are included at their term time address.

The population of Wales is quite heavily concentrated on the south coast of the country, especially in the large cities of Cardiff and Swansea where approximately 383,919 and 251,304 people live, respectively.

For further detailed information about methodology, users should consult the Labour Force Survey User Guide, included with the APS documentation. For variable and value labelling and coding frames that are not included either in the data or in the current APS documentation, users are advised to consult the latest versions of the LFS User Guides, which are available from the ONS Labour Force Survey - User Guidance webpages.

Occupation data for 2021 and 2022
The ONS has identified an issue with the collection of some occupational data in 2021 and 2022 data files in a number of their surveys. While they estimate any impacts will be small overall, this will affect the accuracy of the breakdowns of some detailed (four-digit Standard Occupational Classification (SOC)) occupations, and data derived from them. None of ONS' headline statistics, other than those directly sourced from occupational data, are affected and you can continue to rely on their accuracy. The affected datasets have now been updated. Further information can be found in the ONS article published on 11 July 2023: Revision of miscoded occupational data in the ONS Labour Force Survey, UK: January 2021 to September 2022

APS Well-Being Datasets
From 2012-2015, the ONS published separate APS datasets aimed at providing initial estimates of subjective well-being, based on the Integrated Household Survey. In 2015 these were discontinued. A separate set of well-being variables and a corresponding weighting variable have been added to the April-March APS person datasets from A11M12 onwards. Further information on the transition can be found in the Personal well-being in the UK: 2015 to 2016 article on the ONS website.

APS disability variables
Over time, there have been some updates to disability variables in the APS. An article explaining the quality assurance investigations on these variables that have been conducted so far is available on the ONS Methodology webpage.

• age: single year of age, year and month of birth, age completed full-time education and age obtained highest qualification, age of oldest dependent child and age of youngest dependent child
• family unit and household: including a number of variables concerning the number of dependent children in the family according to their ages, relationship to head of household and relationship to head of family
• nationality and country of origin
• geography: including county, unitary/local authority, place of work, Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics 2 (NUTS2) and NUTS3 regions, and whether lives and works in same local authority district
• health: including main health problem, and current and past health problems
• education and apprenticeship: including numbers and subjects of various qualifications and variables concerning apprenticeships
• industry: including industry, industry class and industry group for main, second and last job, and industry made redundant from
• occupation: including 4-digit Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) for main, second and last job and job made redundant from
• system variables: including week number when interview took place and number of households at address

The Secure Access data have more restrictive access conditions than those made available under the standard EUL. Prospective users will need to gain ONS Accredited Researcher status, complete an extra application form and demonstrate to the data owners exactly why they need access to the additional variables. Users are strongly advised to first obtain the standard EUL version of the data to see if they are sufficient for their research requirements.

Latest edition information

For the second edition (October 2024), smoking variables CIGEVER, CIGNOW and CIGSMK16 have been added to the data file.

Latest Edition Information
For the seventh edition (February 2020), the 2018 income weight variable has been added to the data.
The Annual Population Survey (APS) is a major survey series, which aims to provide data that can produce reliable estimates at local authority level. Key topics covered in the survey include education, employment, health and ethnicity. The APS comprises key variables from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) (held at the UK Data Archive under GN 33246), all its associated LFS boosts and the APS boost. Thus, the APS combines results from five different sources: the LFS (waves 1 and 5); the English Local Labour Force Survey (LLFS), the Welsh Labour Force Survey (WLFS), the Scottish Labour Force Survey (SLFS) and the Annual Population Survey Boost Sample (APS(B) - however, this ceased to exist at the end of December 2005, so APS data from January 2006 onwards will contain all the above data apart from APS(B)). Users should note that the LLFS, WLFS, SLFS and APS(B) are not held separately at the Archive. For further detailed information about methodology, users should consult the Labour Force Survey User Guide, selected volumes of which have been included with the APS documentation for reference purposes (see 'Documentation' table below).

The APS aims to provide enhanced annual data for England, covering a target sample of at least 510 economically active persons for each Unitary Authority (UA)/Local Authority District (LAD) and at least 450 in each Greater London Borough. In combination with local LFS boost samples such as the WLFS and SLFS, the survey provides estimates for a range of indicators down to Local Education Authority (LEA) level across the United Kingdom.

New reweighting policy
Following the new reweighting policy ONS has reviewed the latest population estimates made available during 2019 and have decided not to carry out a 2019 LFS and APS reweighting exercise. Therefore, the next reweighting exercise will take place in 2020. These will incorporate the 2019 Sub-National Population Projection data (published in May 2020) and 2019 Mid-Year Estimates (published in June 2020). It is expected that reweighted Labour Market aggregates and microdata will be published towards the end of 2020/early 2021.

End User Licence and Secure Access APS data
Users should note that there are two versions of each APS dataset. One is available under the standard End User Licence (EUL) agreement, and the other is a Secure Access version. The EUL version includes Government Office Region geography, banded age, 3-digit SOC and industry sector for main, second and last job. The Secure Access version contains more detailed variables relating to:

• age: single year of age, year and month of birth, age completed full-time education and age obtained highest qualification, age of oldest dependent child and age of youngest dependent child
• family unit and household: including a number of variables concerning the number of dependent children in the family according to their ages, relationship to head of household and relationship to head of family
• nationality and country of origin
• geography: including county, unitary/local authority, place of work, Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics 2 (NUTS2) and NUTS3 regions, and whether lives and works in same local authority district
• health: including main health problem, and current and past health problems
• education and apprenticeship: including numbers and subjects of various qualifications and variables concerning apprenticeships
• industry: including industry, industry class and industry group for main, second and last job, and industry made redundant from
• occupation: including 4-digit Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) for main, second and last job and job made redundant from
• system variables: including week number when interview took place and number of households at address

Latest Edition Information
For the tenth edition (February 2020), the 2018 income weight variable has been added to the data.
The Annual Population Survey (APS) is a major survey series, which aims to provide data that can produce reliable estimates at local authority level. Key topics covered in the survey include education, employment, health and ethnicity. The APS comprises key variables from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) (held at the UK Data Archive under GN 33246), all its associated LFS boosts and the APS boost. Thus, the APS combines results from five different sources: the LFS (waves 1 and 5); the English Local Labour Force Survey (LLFS), the Welsh Labour Force Survey (WLFS), the Scottish Labour Force Survey (SLFS) and the Annual Population Survey Boost Sample (APS(B) - however, this ceased to exist at the end of December 2005, so APS data from January 2006 onwards will contain all the above data apart from APS(B)). Users should note that the LLFS, WLFS, SLFS and APS(B) are not held separately at the Archive. For further detailed information about methodology, users should consult the Labour Force Survey User Guide, selected volumes of which have been included with the APS documentation for reference purposes (see 'Documentation' table below).

The APS aims to provide enhanced annual data for England, covering a target sample of at least 510 economically active persons for each Unitary Authority (UA)/Local Authority District (LAD) and at least 450 in each Greater London Borough. In combination with local LFS boost samples such as the WLFS and SLFS, the survey provides estimates for a range of indicators down to Local Education Authority (LEA) level across the United Kingdom.

New reweighting policy
Following the new reweighting policy ONS has reviewed the latest population estimates made available during 2019 and have decided not to carry out a 2019 LFS and APS reweighting exercise. Therefore, the next reweighting exercise will take place in 2020. These will incorporate the 2019 Sub-National Population Projection data (published in May 2020) and 2019 Mid-Year Estimates (published in June 2020). It is expected that reweighted Labour Market aggregates and microdata will be published towards the end of 2020/early 2021.

End User Licence and Secure Access APS data
Users should note that there are two versions of each APS dataset. One is available under the standard End User Licence (EUL) agreement, and the other is a Secure Access version. The EUL version includes Government Office Region geography, banded age, 3-digit SOC and industry sector for main, second and last job. The Secure Access version contains more detailed variables relating to:

• age: single year of age, year and month of birth, age completed full-time education and age obtained highest qualification, age of oldest dependent child and age of youngest dependent child
• family unit and household: including a number of variables concerning the number of dependent children in the family according to their ages, relationship to head of household and relationship to head of family
• nationality and country of origin
• geography: including county, unitary/local authority, place of work, Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics 2 (NUTS2) and NUTS3 regions, and whether lives and works in same local authority district
• health: including main health problem, and current and past health problems
• education and apprenticeship: including numbers and subjects of various qualifications and variables concerning apprenticeships
• industry: including industry, industry class and industry group for main, second and last job, and industry made redundant fr...

Population estimates provide statistics on the size and age structure of the population in the UK at country, region, county, and local authority level. They are the official source of estimated population size in between censuses and inform a wide range of official statistics.Persons included are all those people who usually live in an area, regardless of nationality. Arriving international migrants are included in the usually resident population if they remain in the UK for at least a year and emigrants are excluded if they remain outside the UK for at least a year. Students and school boarders are included at their term time address.

In 2016, it was estimated that Birmingham had the largest Muslim population of any local authority in England and Wales at approximately 280 thousand people. Newham and Tower Hamlets, both boroughs of London, had the second and third-largest Muslim populations at 135 and 128 thousand respectively.

Each year, the Greater Manchester Travel Diary Survey (TRADS) collects detailed transport and travel information from every member (aged five or older) of 2,000 Greater Manchester households. Respondents provide details about all the trips they make in a 24-hour period. TRADS focuses on the specifics of the trips and the characteristics of the people making them, rather than attitudes to, and satisfaction with, travel. The survey sample is designed to be representative of each Greater Manchester (GM) district based on resident demographics. The survey runs throughout the year, from the beginning of February to the end of the following January. The only days when surveys aren’t conducted are Christmas Day and any days following a bank holiday. The data collected from 2,000 GM households equates to more than 4,500 residents and around 10,000 trips. The key information captured by the survey includes trip origins and destinations, travel times, travel methods, and journey purposes. Surveying is carried out face-to-face by experienced interviewers. The response rate was 58% for both 2017-19 and 2024. The survey’s annual sample - a random probability sample stratified by district - provides confidence intervals of +/- 1% to 2% at the GM household level, and +/- 7% to 8% at the district household level. Before the pandemic, trip estimates were based on data collected over three years, providing confidence intervals of +/- 1% at the GM household level, and +/- 3% to 4% at the district household level. However, since 2020, travel habits have been too unstable for this approach, so estimates from 2021 onwards are based on single-year data. The survey data is weighted/expanded to the GM population based on each district’s population by age, gender, and Acorn Category. The weights are small, with high weighting efficiency. Between 2019 and 2022, the weighting methodology was updated to better account for population growth. In 2019, data was expanded to the Census 2011 population levels, while 2024 data is expanded to the 2023 mid-year population estimates. This change has most notably impacted districts with significant population growth, such as Manchester and Salford, where the estimated number of trips has increased despite a decrease in the average trip rate per person. In 2023, the questionnaire was updated to include new travel modes (eg distinguishing between electric and combustion engine car drivers) and new demographic questions (eg sexual orientation, gender identity). These updates remain in place for 2024. Changes were also made in 2023 to better capture commute and business trips, reflecting the working habits of GM residents, resulting in more commute trips and fewer business trips being recorded. For the 2024 survey, business trips and commute trips were combined into one 'Business and Commuting' category, due to very few business trips being recorded overall. The report includes data estimates for 2019 and 2024. While overall estimates at the district household level have confidence intervals of +/- 7% to 8%, caution is advised when interpreting sub-group estimates (eg commute trips, short trips, age, hour, and purpose) due to larger confidence intervals. Before the pandemic, TRADS estimates closely aligned with key variables and other data sources (eg census data, ticket sales, Google Environment Insight Explorer). And generally, TRADS trip estimates show remarkable year-on-year stability, even for smaller modes and journey purposes. For example, the number of taxi trips has consistently been around 100,000 daily since 2017. Note: totals in tables may not sum precisely due to rounding to the nearest 1,000. If you would like more details of the surveying methodology, our technical notes can be made available on request. For more information about TRADS or for further analysis, please contact insight@tfgm.com.

In 2024, Belfast was the local district which had the highest number of inhabitants in Northern Ireland, with an estimated population of 352,390, followed by Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon which had approximately 222,511 people living there in this year.