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.

Land area and population density figures for 2001 to 2050 for wards and boroughs. Ward data begins in 2011. Population figure included are GLA estimate (2016-based projections), 2011 Census and ONS Mid-year Estimates. GLA figures are based on GLA population projections. Select which year you require from the drop-down box in the spreadsheet. Inland area takes account of water line. Areas with large bodies of water will have a smaller inland area than total area since some of the area will be water. Land area figures are taken from Ordnance Survey boundaries using MapInfo.

This dataset provides Census 2021 estimates that classify usual residents in England and Wales by population density (number of usual residents per square kilometre). The estimates are as at Census Day, 21 March 2021.

Area type

Census 2021 statistics are published for a number of different geographies. These can be large, for example the whole of England, or small, for example an output area (OA), the lowest level of geography for which statistics are produced.

For higher levels of geography, more detailed statistics can be produced. When a lower level of geography is used, such as output areas (which have a minimum of 100 persons), the statistics produced have less detail. This is to protect the confidentiality of people and ensure that individuals or their characteristics cannot be identified.

Lower Tier Local Authorities

Lower tier local authorities provide a range of local services. In England there are 309 lower tier local authorities. These are made up of non-metropolitan districts (181), unitary authorities (59), metropolitan districts (36) and London boroughs (33, including City of London). In Wales there are 22 local authorities made up of 22 unitary authorities. Of these local authority types, only non-metropolitan districts are not additionally classified as upper tier local authorities.

In 2024, Croydon had the largest population among London boroughs at just over 409,340, followed by Barnet at 405,050.

This report was released in September 2010. However, recent demographic data is available on the datastore - you may find other datasets on the Datastore useful such as: GLA Population Projections, National Insurance Number Registrations of Overseas Nationals, Births by Birthplace of Mother, Births and Fertility Rates, Office for National Statistics (ONS) Population Estimates

FOCUSONLONDON2010:POPULATIONANDMIGRATION

London is the United Kingdom’s only city region. Its population of 7.75 million is 12.5 per cent of the UK population living on just 0.6 per cent of the land area. London’s average population density is over 4,900 persons per square kilometre, this is ten times that of the second most densely populated region.

Between 2001 and 2009 London’s population grew by over 430 thousand, more than any other region, accounting for over 16 per cent of the UK increase.

This report discusses in detail the population of London including Population Age Structure, Fertility and Mortality, Internal Migration, International Migration, Population Turnover and Churn, and Demographic Projections.

Population and Migration report is the first release of the Focus on London 2010-12 series. Reports on themes such as Income, Poverty, Labour Market, Skills, Health, and Housing are also available.

REPORT:

Read the full report in PDF format.

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PRESENTATION:

To access an interactive presentation about population changes in London click the link to see it on Prezi.com

DATA:

To access a spreadsheet with all the data from the Population and Migration report click on the image below.

Report data

MAP:

To enter an interactive map showing a number of indicators discussed in the Population and Migration report click on the image below.

Interactive Maps

FACTS:

● Top five boroughs for babies born per 10,000 population in 2008-09:

1. Newham – 244.4
2. Barking and Dagenham – 209.3
3. Hackney – 205.7
4. Waltham Forest – 202.7
5. Greenwich – 196.2

-32. Havering – 116.8

-33. City of London – 47.0

● In 2009, Barnet overtook Croydon as the most populous London borough. Prior to this Croydon had been the largest since 1966

● Population per hectare of land used for Domestic building and gardens is highest in Tower Hamlets

● In 2008-09, natural change (births minus deaths) led to 78,000 more Londoners compared with only 8,000 due to migration. read more about this or click play on the chart below to reveal how regional components of populations change have altered over time.

This graph displays the ratio between the annual average population and the land area of different regions within the United Kingdom (UK) as of 2015. The data shows that in Eastern Inner London there were on average ****** people per square kilometer, whereas in the Highlands and islands of Scotland there was an average of **** people per square kilometer. Information regarding the population density of London and other UK cities can be found here.

Land area and population density figures for 2001 to 2041 for wards and boroughs. Ward data begins in 2011.

Population figure included are GLA estimate (2014 projections) and 2011 Census.

GLA figures are based on GLA population projections. Select which year you require from the drop-down box in the spreadsheet.

Inland area takes account of water line. Areas with large bodies of water will have a smaller inland area than total area since some of the area will be water.
Land area figures are taken from Ordnance Survey boundaries using MapInfo.

Mid-year (30 June) population density of Lower layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs) in England and Wales based on estimates of the usual resident population.

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).

Lower and Middle Super Output Area populations by single year of age for both current and previous boundaries. Data for previous boundaries has been apportioned by the Greater London Authority. Areas that have merged were calculated using proportions from previous Mid-year population estimates (pre-revision) and applying it to the current estimates. Data downloads: Lower Super Output Areas (LSOA) - current LSOA boundaries (2011) (ZIPPED) 2001-2014 - previous LSOA boundaries (2001) (ZIPPED) 2001-2013 no longer updated Middle Super Output Areas (MSOA) - current MSOA boundaries (2011) 2002-2014 - previous MSOA boundaries (2001) 2001-2013 no longer updated The data is presented by sex and single year of age and also in a custom-age tool. Simply enter the age group required for males and females and the tool will automatically calculate the figure. NB Data for current boundaries includes single year of age data for 85-89, while data for previous boundaries contains single years up to 85+. Land Area and Population Density for MSOA and LSOA (2011) is available for most recent year in a separate file. Download from ONS or new ONS page.

This MSOA atlas provides a summary of demographic and related data for each Middle Super Output Area in Greater London. The average population of an MSOA in London in 2010 was 8,346, compared with 1,722 for an LSOA and 13,078 for a ward.

The profiles are designed to provide an overview of the population in these small areas by combining a range of data on the population, births, deaths, health, housing, crime, commercial property/floorspace, income, poverty, benefits, land use, environment, deprivation, schools, and employment.

If you need to find an MSOA and you know the postcode of the area, the ONS NESS search page has a tool for this.

The MSOA Atlas is available as an XLS as well as being presented using InstantAtlas mapping software. This is a useful tool for displaying a large amount of data for numerous geographies, in one place (requires HTML 5).

NB. It is currently not possible to export the map as a picture due to a software issue with the Google Maps background. We advise you to print screen to copy an image to the clipboard.

Tips:

1. - Select a new indicator from the Data box on the left. Select the theme, then indicator and then year to show the data.
2. - To view data just for one borough*, use the filter tool.
3. - The legend settings can be altered by clicking on the pencil icon next to the MSOA tick box within the map legend.
4. - The areas can be ranked in order by clicking at the top of the indicator column of the data table.

Themes included here are Census 2011 Population, Mid-year Estimates, Population by Broad Age, Households, Household composition, Ethnic Group, Country of Birth, Language, Religion, Tenure, Dwelling type, Land Area, Population Density, Births, General Fertility Rate, Deaths, Standardised Mortality Ratio (SMR), Population Turnover Rates (per 1000), Crime (numbers), Crime (rates), House Prices, Commercial property (number), Rateable Value (£ per m2), Floorspace; ('000s m2), Household Income, Household Poverty, County Court Judgements (2005), Qualifications, Economic Activity, Employees, Employment, Claimant Count, Pupil Absence, Early Years Foundation Stage, Key Stage 1, GCSE and Equivalent, Health, Air Emissions, Car or Van availability, Income Deprivation, Central Heating, Incidence of Cancer, Life Expectancy, and Road Casualties.

• The London boroughs are: City of London, Barking and Dagenham, Barnet, Bexley, Brent, Bromley, Camden, Croydon, Ealing, Enfield, Greenwich, Hackney, Hammersmith and Fulham, Haringey, Harrow, Havering, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Kingston upon Thames, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Newham, Redbridge, Richmond upon Thames, Southwark, Sutton, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Wandsworth, Westminster.

These profiles were created using the most up to date information available at the time of collection (Spring 2014).

You may also be interested in LSOA Atlas and Ward Atlas.

The Global Human Footprint dataset of the Last of the Wild Project, version 2, 2005 (LWPv2) is the Human Influence Index (HII) normalized by biome and realm. The HII is a global dataset of 1 km grid cells, created from nine global data layers covering human population pressure (population density), human land use and infraestructure (built-up areas, nighttime lights, land use/land cover) and human access (coastlines, roads, navigable rivers).The Human Footprint Index (HF) map, expresses as a percentage the relative human influence in each terrestrial biome. HF values from 0 to 100. A value of zero represents the least influence -the "most wild" part of the biome with value of 100 representing the most influence (least wild) part of the biome.

Mid-year (30 June) estimates of the usual resident population for electoral wards in England and Wales. Note: this page is no longer updated. Latest estimates, and all data for mid-2012 onwards, are available on the Nomis website.

This graph presents the population density of the ten leading business cities in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2014. London has a significant lead in the ranking as there are 1078 more people per km² than in Bristol. Leeds, at *** people per km², is the least densely populated city on the list.

The EcoTrends project was established in 2004 by Dr. Debra Peters (Jornada Basin LTER, USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range) and Dr. Ariel Lugo (Luquillo LTER, USDA-FS Luquillo Experimental Forest) to support the collection and analysis of long-term ecological datasets. The project is a large synthesis effort focused on improving the accessibility and use of long-term data. At present, there are ~50 state and federally funded research sites that are participating and contributing to the EcoTrends project, including all 26 Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites and sites funded by the USDA Agriculture Research Service (ARS), USDA Forest Service, US Department of Energy, US Geological Survey (USGS) and numerous universities. Data from the EcoTrends project are available through an exploratory web portal (http://www.ecotrends.info). This web portal enables the continuation of data compilation and accessibility by users through an interactive web application. Ongoing data compilation is updated through both manual and automatic processing as part of the LTER Provenance Aware Synthesis Tracking Architecture (PASTA). The web portal is a collaboration between the Jornada LTER and the LTER Network Office. The following dataset from Harvard Forest (HFR) contains human population density measurements in numberPerKilometerSquared units and were aggregated to a yearly timescale.

The EcoTrends project was established in 2004 by Dr. Debra Peters (Jornada Basin LTER, USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range) and Dr. Ariel Lugo (Luquillo LTER, USDA-FS Luquillo Experimental Forest) to support the collection and analysis of long-term ecological datasets. The project is a large synthesis effort focused on improving the accessibility and use of long-term data. At present, there are ~50 state and federally funded research sites that are participating and contributing to the EcoTrends project, including all 26 Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites and sites funded by the USDA Agriculture Research Service (ARS), USDA Forest Service, US Department of Energy, US Geological Survey (USGS) and numerous universities. Data from the EcoTrends project are available through an exploratory web portal (http://www.ecotrends.info). This web portal enables the continuation of data compilation and accessibility by users through an interactive web application. Ongoing data compilation is updated through both manual and automatic processing as part of the LTER Provenance Aware Synthesis Tracking Architecture (PASTA). The web portal is a collaboration between the Jornada LTER and the LTER Network Office. The following dataset from Harvard Forest (HFR) contains percent urban population measurements in percent units and were aggregated to a yearly timescale.

London Base Station, Population, and Tweet DensityThe data shows the Tweet density, Base Station density, and Population density for each of the Greater London wards. A total of 532 wards are shown, with the following units: (1) Twitter data is over a 2 week period in 2012, (2) BS density is open data, and (3) Population density is residency data at 2011 census.traffic_bs_pop_wards_density.xlsx

The LSOA atlas provides a summary of demographic and related data for each Lower Super Output Area in Greater London. The average population of an LSOA in London in 2010 was 1,722 compared with 8,346 for an MSOA and 13,078 for a ward. The profiles are designed to provide an overview of the population in these small areas by combining a range of data on the population, diversity, households, health, housing, crime, benefits, land use, deprivation, schools, and employment. Due to significant population change in some areas, not all 2011 LSOA boundaries are the same as previous LSOA boundaries that had been used from 2001. A lot of data is still only available using the 2001 boundaries therefore two Atlases have been created - one using the current LSOA boundaries (2011) and one using the previous boundaries (2001). If you need to find an LSOA and you know the postcode of the area, the ONS NESS search page has a tool for this. The LSOA Atlas is available as an XLS as well as being presented using InstantAtlas mapping software. This is a useful tool for displaying a large amount of data for numerous geographies, in one place (requires HTML 5). For 2011 Census data used in the 2001 Boundaries Atlas: For simplicity, where two or more areas have been merged, the figures for these areas have been divided by the number of LSOAs that used to make that area up. Therefore, these data are not official ONS statisitcs, but presented here as indicative to display trends. NB. It is currently not possible to export the map as a picture due to a software issue with the Google Maps background. We advise you to print screen to copy an image to the clipboard. IMPORTANT: Due to the large amount of data and areas, the LSOA Atlas may take up to a minute to fully load. Once loaded, the report will work more efficiently by using the filter tool and selecting one borough at a time. Displaying every LSOA in London will slow down the data reload. Tips:

• Select a new indicator from the Data box on the left. Select the theme, then indicator and then year to show the data.
• To view data just for one borough, use the filter tool.
• The legend settings can be altered by clicking on the pencil icon next to the LSOA tick box within the map legend.
• The areas can be ranked in order by clicking at the top of the indicator column of the data table.

Themes included in the atlases are Census 2011 population, Mid-year Estimates by age, Population Density, Households, Household Composition, Ethnic Group, Language, Religion, Country of Birth, Tenure, Number of dwellings, Vacant Dwellings, Dwellings by Council Tax Band, Crime (numbers), Crime (rates), Economic Activity, Qualifications, House Prices, Workplace employment numbers, Claimant Count, Employment and Support Allowance, Benefits claimants, State Pension, Pension Credit, Incapacity Benefit/ SDA, Disability Living Allowance, Income Support, Financial vulnerability, Health and Disability, Land use, Air Emissions, Energy consumption, Car or Van access, Accessibility by Public Transport/walk, Road Casualties, Child Benefit, Child Poverty, Lone Parent Families, Out-of-Work families, Fuel Poverty, Free School Meals, Pupil Absence, Early Years Foundation Stage, Key Stage 1, Key Stage 2, GCSE, Level 3 (e.g A/AS level), The Indices of Deprivation 2010, Economic Deprivation Index, and The IMD 2010 Underlying Indicators. The London boroughs are: City of London, Barking and Dagenham, Barnet, Bexley, Brent, Bromley, Camden, Croydon, Ealing, Enfield, Greenwich, Hackney, Hammersmith and Fulham, Haringey, Harrow, Havering, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Kingston upon Thames, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Newham, Redbridge, Richmond upon Thames, Southwark, Sutton, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Wandsworth, Westminster. These profiles were created using the most up to date information available at the time of collection (Spring 2014). You may also be interested in MSOA Atlas and Ward Atlas.

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.

The London Borough Profiles help paint a general picture of an area by presenting a range of headline indicator data in both spreadsheet and map form to help show statistics covering demographic, economic, social and environmental datasets for each borough, alongside relevant comparator areas. The London Borough Atlas does the same but provides further detailed breakdowns and time-series data for each borough. The full datasets and more information for each of the indicators are usually available on the London Datastore. A link to each of the datasets is contained in the spreadsheet and map.

London Borough Profiles

On opening the Microsoft Excel version, a simple drop down box allows you to choose which borough profile you are interested in. Selecting this will display data for that borough, plus either Inner or Outer London, London and a national comparator (usually England where data is available). To see the full set of data for all 33 local authorities in London plus the comparator areas in Excel, click the 'Data' worksheet. A chart and a map are also available to help visualise the data for all boroughs (macros must be enabled for the Excel map to function). The data is set out across 11 themes covering most of the key indicators relating to demographic, economic, social and environmental data. Sources are provided in the spreadsheet. Notes about the indicator are provided in comment boxes attached to the indicator names. For a geographical and bar chart representation of the profile data, choose the InstantAtlas version. Choose indicators from the left hand side. Click on the comparators to make them appear on the chart and map. Sources, links to data, and notes are all contained in the box in the bottom right hand corner.

These profiles include data relating to: Population, Households (census), Demographics, Migrant population, Ethnicity, Language, Employment, NEET, DWP Benefits (client group), Housing Benefit, Qualifications, Earnings, Volunteering, Jobs density, Business Survival, Crime, Fires, House prices, New homes, Tenure, Greenspace, Recycling, Carbon Emissions, Cars, Public Transport Accessibility (PTAL), Indices of Multiple Deprivation, GCSE results, Children looked after, Children in out-of-work families, Life Expectancy, Teenage conceptions, Happiness levels, Political control, and Election turnout.

London Borough Atlas

To access even more data at local authority level, use the London Borough Atlas. It contains data about the same topics as the profiles but provides further detailed breakdowns and time-series data for each borough. There is also an InstantAtlas version available.

The London boroughs are: City of London, Barking and Dagenham, Barnet, Bexley, Brent, Bromley, Camden, Croydon, Ealing, Enfield, Greenwich, Hackney, Hammersmith and Fulham, Haringey, Harrow, Havering, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Kingston upon Thames, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Newham, Redbridge, Richmond upon Thames, Southwark, Sutton, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Wandsworth, Westminster. You may also find our small area profiles useful - Ward, LSOA, and "/dataset/msoa-atlas">MS