As of 2019, the population of the London metropolitan area was approximately 14.37 million people, an increase of 2.3 million when compared with 2002. The London metropolitan area covers an area that is larger than Greater London, and includes areas from which it is possible to commute to London for work.

The population of London was approximately *** million in 2023, an increase of over *** 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 2022, 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 *** percent in early 2023, this ranged from *** percent in Brent, to just *** percent in Kingston 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 2021, the GDP of Greater London was approximately ***** billion British pounds, just over ** percent 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.

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.

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.

There were ******* 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.

Daytime population - The estimated number of people in a borough in the daytime during an average day, broken down by component sub-groups.

The figures given are an average day during school term-time. No account has been made for seasonal variations, or for people who are usually in London (resident, at school or working), but are away visiting another place.

Sources include the Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES) (available under license), Annual Population Survey (APS), 2011 Census, Department for Education (DfE), International Passenger Survey (IPS), GB Tourism Survey (GBTS), Great Britain Day Visit Survey (GBDVS), GLA Population Projections, and GLA Economics estimates (GLAE).

The figures published in these sources have been used exactly as they appear - no further adjustments have been made to account for possible sampling errors or questionnaire design flaws.

Day trip visitors are defined as those on day trips away from home for three hours or more and not undertaking activities that would regularly constitute part of their work or would be a regular leisure activity.

International visitors – people from a country other than the UK visiting the location;
Domestic overnight tourists – people from other parts of the UK staying in the location for at least one night.
All visitor data is modelled and unrounded.

This edition was released on 7 October 2015 and replaces the previous estimates for 2013.

GLA resident population, 2011 Census resident population, and 2011 Census workday populations (by sex) included for comparison.

See a visualisation of this data using Tableau.

For more workday population data by age use the Custom Age-Range Tool for Census 2011 Workday population , or download data for a range of geographical levels from NOMIS.

Excel Age-Range creator for Office for National Statistics (ONS) Mid year population estimates (MYE) covering each year between 1999 and 2016 These files take into account the revised estimates for 2002-2010 released in April 2013 down to Local Authority level and the post 2011 estimates based on the Census results. Scotland and Northern Ireland data has not been revised, so Great Britain and United Kingdom totals comprise the original data for these plus revised England and Wales figures. This Excel based tool enables users to query the single year of age raw 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. Simply select the lower and upper age range for both males and females and the spreadsheet will return the total population for the range. Please adhere to the terms and conditions of supply contained within the file. Tip: You can copy and paste the rows you are interested in to another worksheet by using the filters at the top of the columns and then select all by pressing Ctrl+A. Then simply copy and paste the cells to a new location. ONS Mid year population estimates Open Excel tool (London Boroughs, Regions and National, 1999-2016) Also available is a custom-age tool for all geographies in the UK. Open the tool for all UK geographies (local authority and above) for: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. This full MYE dataset by single year of age (SYA) age and gender is available as a Datastore package here. Ward Level Population estimates Single year of age population tool for 2002 to 2015 for all wards in London. New 2014 Ward boundary estimates Ward boundary changes in May 2014 only affected three London boroughs - Hackney, Kensington and Chelsea, and Tower Hamlets. The estimates between 2001-2013 have been calculated by the GLA by taking the proportion of a the old ward that falls within the new ward based on the proportion of population living in each area at the 2011 Census. Therefore, these estimates are purely indicative and are not official statistics and not endorsed by ONS. From 2014 onwards, ONS began publishing official estimates for the new ward boundaries. Download here.

This Update from the GLA Intelligence Unit analyses the ONS 2014 mid-year population estimates and associated components of change focussing on London and comparing these to ONS and GLA population projections.

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.

The trend-based projections include a range of variants based on different assumptions about future levels of migration. The projections are produced for all local authorities in England & Wales.

The datasets include summary workbooks with population and summary components of change as well as zip archives with the full detailed outputs from the models, including components of change by single year of age and sex.

The most recent set of trend-based population projections currently available are the 2022-based projections (August 2024). Additional documentation, including updated information about methodologies and assumptions will be published in the coming days.

For more information about these projections, see the accompanying blog post.

The 2022-based projections comprise three variants based on different periods of past migration patterns and assumed levels of future fertility rates.

Trend-based projections don't explicitly account for future housing delivery. For most local planning purposes we generally recommend the use of housing-led projections

These projections are based on modelled back series of population estimates produced by the GLA and available here

* 14 July 2023 - following a minor update to the modelled population estimates series, we have made available an additional version of the projections based on these updated inputs. At this time we have no plans to update or replace the outputs and documentation published in January 2023. However, we recommend users looking to use the projections in analysis or as inputs to onward modelling consider using these updated outputs.

• Documentation page
• Back to projections homepage

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.

The focus for this resource is Greater London. In the 2021 Census, the population of Greater London was recorded as 8.8 Million people.

In 2015 London's population surpassed its previous peak of 8.6 million people. This dataset contains an excel workbook showing borough population estimates and projections for the period 1939 - 2039 and a brief summary of population change in the capital.

The GLA Interim 2021-based population projections (January 2023) comprise both trend-based variant projections and housing-led scenario projections. This dataset contains the detailed methodology documentation for the model and is published alongside the population projections data to assist users in understanding the projections and identifying which set of projections is most appropriate for their needs.

The projections themselves can be downloaded here: Population and Household Projections

Data on enterprise births, deaths, active enterprises and survival rates in Barnet, as well as comparative data across Greater London boroughs.

This data is adapted from data from the Office for National Statistics and published by the GLA licensed under the Open Government Licence.

Comparative data and other information can also be found on the London Datastore.

Data includes:
1) the most recent annual figures for enterprise births and deaths. Births and deaths are identified by comparing active populations of enterprises for different years
2) time series of the number of births and deaths of entrprises together with a percentage of births and deaths to active enterprises in a given year
3) a time series of the number of active enterprises. Active enterprises are businesses that had either turnover or employment at any time during the reference period.
4) survival rates of enterprises for up to 5 years after birth

Data on size of firms (micro-business, SME, large) for business and employees in London by industry can be found on the ONS website.

More Business Demographics data on the ONS website

By 2047 the population of London is expected to reach 9.97 million people, an increase of almost 699,500 when compared with 2025. While there has been quite a steep rise in its population in recent years, London’s population growth was relatively stagnant throughout the 1980s and even decreased slightly towards the end of that decade. After peaking at 8.89 million in 2019, the population of London has fallen slightly, to 8.8 million by 2021. UK population forecast Like London, the population of the United Kingdom is forecast to continue to grow well into the middle of the century. By 2046, the population of the UK is estimated to be over 76.3 million people, an increase of over 20 million people when compared with the population figures for 1976. Additionally, the average age of the population is predicted to increase from 39.5 years in 2020 to 44.5 years by the mid-2040s, and continue to increase towards the end of the century. London looms large In the UK, London is by far the largest urban agglomeration in the country, dwarfing the UK's next largest cities of Birmingham, Manchester, and Leeds. London also has a dominant economic position in the UK, with the city accounting for around a quarter of the total GDP in the country. The UK capital also has a far higher GDP per head than the rest of the county, at over ****** pounds in 2023, compared with the UK average of ****** pounds.

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.

The GLA Demography Team offers a bespoke population projection service to London local authorities. Boroughs can request population projections based on their own choice of assumptions about future housing delivery. These assumptions are submitted to the team via a standard template. The resulting projections are referred to as the Borough Preferred Option (or BPO) and are commonly used to help support local planning and service delivery.

The GLA does not make the BPO projections and submitted housing trajectories publicly available or share them with anyone other than the commissioning borough. Boroughs wishing to publish BPO projections themselves are free to do so.

This service is offered as an optional, free of charge service to London authorities, and is intended to provide users with an alternative to the standard projections that the GLA publishes on the London Datastore.

Access to outputs

The BPO projections are shared with users via private pages on the London Datastore. These pages include all outputs produced under the service since 2019.

To access outputs, users must have a current Datastore account linked to their local government email address and contact the Demography Team to request permissions be granted for the individual pages relating to their local authority.

Notes on completing the development data template

What periods do the year labels in the template refer to?

The year labels in the template nominally refer to periods ending in the middle of that year (i.e. `2025` refers to the 12 month period ending June 30th 2025). However, development data is often readily available only for financial years and it is common to submit data on this basis, with financial year 2024/25 aligning with `2025` in the template.

Development trajectory

The cells in the template represent annual net changes in the number of dwellings.

The current template covers the period 2012-2041 and are pre-populated with estimated annual net dwelling changes for the period 2012-2019, based on modelling of data from the London Development Database.

For the 2022-based and subsequent projections, dwelling stock estimates are anchored to the results of the 2021 Census and it is not essential to include data for dwelling stock changes that occured prior to this point (i.e. up to and including '2021').

Past development data from 2022 up to the base year of the projections, affects the projected population in all future years as dwelling stock in the base year is used in the estimation of relationships between housing and population in the model.

We are not yet able to pre-populate templates with estimated dwelling changes for years after 2019. In future rounds of projections we intend to incorporate data from the Planning Data Hub.

Blank cells are treated as missing rather than no change, and data based on the 2017 Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) will be substituted in its place. To indicate no net change in dwellings in a ward in a particular year, users must explicitly enter a zero in the relevant cell.

Self-contained and Non-self-contained development

Self-contained development should be used for standard residential development (e.g. new build/conversion).

Non-self-contained development should be used for development such as student accommodation. This should be added to the template as the equivalent of self-contained units (i.e. a ratio of non-self-contained to self-contained should be applied). The London Plan ratios are:

· 2.5:1 for student housing

· 1:1 for housing for older people (C2)

· 1.8:1 for all other non-self-contained housing

Requesting projections based on multiple different housing scenarios

While we are willing to try and accommodate requests for multiple sets of projections, capacity in the team is limited and there is no guarantee that we will be able to do so in a timely manner.

Please do not

• Add rows or columns to the template
• Change ward names or codes
• Include formulas or new formatting
• Add notes or comments to the template
• Return data in a different version of the template to those included here

Please return completed templates to:

<a href="mailto:demography@london.gov.uk"

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.