Chart and table of population level and growth rate for the London, UK metro area from 1950 to 2025. United Nations population projections are also included through the year 2035.

In 2023, Croydon had the largest population among London's 32 boroughs at 397,741, while Kensington and Chelsea had the smallest population, at 147,460.

There were 827,489 people living in London who were aged between 25 and 29 in 2023, the most of any group. The four largest age cohorts were all clustered between the ages of 25 and 44.

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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Excel age range creator for GLA Projections data

This Excel based tool enables users to query the raw single year of age data so that any age range can easily be calculated without having to carry out often complex, and time consuming formulas that could also be open to human error. Each year the GLA demography team produce sets of population projections. On this page each of these datasets since 2009 can be accessed, though please remember that the older versions have been superceded. From 2012, data includes population estimates and projections between 2001 and 2041 for each borough plus Central London (Camden, City of London, Kensington & Chelsea, and Westminster), Rest of Inner Boroughs, Inner London, Outer London and Greater London.

The full raw data by single year of age (SYA) and gender are available as Datastore packages at the links below.

How to use the tool: Simply select the lower and upper age range for both males and females (starting in cell C3) and the spreadsheet will return the total population for the range.

Tip: You can copy and paste the boroughs you are interested in to another worksheet by clicking: Edit then Go To (or Control + G), then Special, and Visible cells only. Then simply copy and 'paste values' of the cells to a new location.

Warning: The ethnic group and ward files are large (around 35MB), and may take some time to download depending on your bandwidth.

Find out more about GLA population projections on the GLA Demographic Projections page

BOROUGH PROJECTIONS

GLA 2009 Round London Plan Population Projections (January 2010) (SUPERSEDED)

GLA 2009 Round (revised) London Plan Population Projections (August 2010) (SUPERCEDED)

GLA 2009 Round (revised) SHLAA Population Projections (August 2010) (SUPERCEDED)

GLA 2010 Round SHLAA Population Projections (February 2011) (SUPERCEDED)

GLA 2011 Round SHLAA Population Projections, High Fertility (December 2011) (SUPERCEDED)

GLA 2011 Round SHLAA Population Projections, Standard Fertility (January 2012) (SUPERCEDED)

GLA 2012 Round SHLAA Population Projections, (December 2012)(SUPERCEDED)

GLA 2012 Round Trend Based Population Projections, (December 2012) (SUPERCEDED)

GLA 2012 Round SHLAA Borough Projections incorporating DCLG 2011 household formation rates, (June 2013) (SUPERCEDED)

GLA 2013 Round Trend Based Population Projections - High (December 2013)

GLA 2013 Round Trend Based Population Projections - Central (December 2013)

GLA 2013 Round Trend Based Population Projections - Low (December 2013)

GLA 2013 Round SHLAA Based Population Projections (February 2014) Spreadsheet now includes national comparator data from ONS.

GLA 2013 Round SHLAA Based Capped Population Projections (March 2014) Spreadsheet includes national comparator data from ONS. This is the recommended file to use.

WARD PROJECTIONS

GLA 2008 round (High) Ward Projections (March 2009) (SUPERSEDED)

GLA 2009 round (revised) London Plan Ward Projections (August 2010) (SUPERCEDED)

GLA 2010 round SHLAA Ward Projections (February 2011) (SUPERCEDED)

GLA 2011 round SHLAA Standard Ward Projections (January 2012) (SUPERCEDED)

GLA 2011 round SHLAA High Ward Projections (January 2012) (SUPERCEDED)

GLA 2012 round SHLAA based Ward Projections (March 2013) (XLS) (SUPERCEDED)

GLA 2012 round SHLAA Ward Projections (March 2013) (XLS) (SUPERCEDED)

GLA 2013 round SHLAA Ward Projections (March 2014)

GLA 2013 round SHLAA Capped Ward Projections (March 2014) This is the recommended file to use.

ETHNIC GROUP PROJECTIONS FOR LOCAL AUTHORITIES

GLA 2012 Round SHLAA Ethnic Group Borough Projections - Interim (May 2013) (SUPERCEDED)

GLA 2012 Round Trend Based Ethnic Group Borough Projections - Interim (May 2013) (SUPERCEDED)

GLA 2012 Round SHLAA Based Ethnic Group Borough Projections - Final (Nov 2013) (SUPERCEDED)

GLA 2012 Round Trend Based Ethnic Group Borough Projections - Final (Nov 2013) (SUPERCEDED)

GLA 2013 Round SHLAA Capped Ethnic Group Borough Projections (August 2014)

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.

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.

The ethnic group projections are produced for London borough and provide detailed projection by 17 ethnic groups of London’s future population. Two variants are produced: one consistent with the 2016-based central trend projection, and one consistent with the 2016-based housing-led projection. The 2016-based projections remain the most recent set of GLA ethnic group projections.

About this dataset

Context

The dataset tabulates the population of London by race. It includes the population of London across racial categories (excluding ethnicity) as identified by the Census Bureau. The dataset can be utilized to understand the population distribution of London across relevant racial categories.

Key observations

The percent distribution of London population by race (across all racial categories recognized by the U.S. Census Bureau): 92.18% are white, 0.36% are Black or African American, 0.09% are American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.99% are Asian, 1.71% are some other race and 4.67% are multiracial.

Content

When available, the data consists of estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 2018-2022 5-Year Estimates.

Racial categories include:

• White
• Black or African American
• American Indian and Alaska Native
• Asian
• Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander
• Some other race
• Two or more races (multiracial)

Variables / Data Columns

• Race: This column displays the racial categories (excluding ethnicity) for the London
• Population: The population of the racial category (excluding ethnicity) in the London is shown in this column.
• % of Total Population: This column displays the percentage distribution of each race as a proportion of London total population. Please note that the sum of all percentages may not equal one due to rounding of values.

Good to know

Margin of Error

Data in the dataset are based on the estimates and are subject to sampling variability and thus a margin of error. Neilsberg Research recommends using caution when presening these estimates in your research.

Custom data

If you do need custom data for any of your research project, report or presentation, you can contact our research staff at research@neilsberg.com for a feasibility of a custom tabulation on a fee-for-service basis.

Inspiration

Neilsberg Research Team curates, analyze and publishes demographics and economic data from a variety of public and proprietary sources, each of which often includes multiple surveys and programs. The large majority of Neilsberg Research aggregated datasets and insights is made available for free download at https://www.neilsberg.com/research/.

Recommended for further research

This dataset is a part of the main dataset for London Population by Race & Ethnicity. You can refer the same here