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).

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.

Estimates of the usual resident population for the UK as at 30 June of the reference year. Provided by administrative area, single year of age and sex.

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.

Dataset population: Persons aged 16 to 74

Daytime/workday population

England and Wales (Workday Population)

Workday population is where the usually resident population is re-distributed to their places of work, while those not in work are recorded at their usual residence.

The workday population of an area is defined as all usual residents aged 16 and above who are in employment and whose workplace is in the area, and all other usual residents of any age who are not in employment but are resident in the area. People who work mainly at or from home or do not have a fixed place of work are included in their area of their usual residence. The following population groups are excluded from the workday population of an area:

• Those living in England and Wales but working in Scotland, Northern Ireland, outside the UK or on offshore installations,
• Those with a place of work in England and Wales but who are not usually resident in England and Wales, and
• Short-term residents

England and Wales (Workplace Population)

Workplace population is where the usually resident population is re-distributed to their main place of work, but those not working are excluded.

Northern Ireland (Daytime Population)

The daytime population of an area is defined as 'All usual residents who are either in employment or full-time students in the area, or not in employment or full-time students but are usually resident in the area'. People who work or study mainly at or from home, or do not have a fixed place of work or study, are included in the area of their usual residence.

The following population groups are excluded from the daytime population of an area:

• Those living in Northern Ireland but working or studying in England, Wales, Scotland, outside the UK or on offshore installations
• Those with a place of work or study in Northern Ireland but who are not usually resident in Northern Ireland
• Short-term residents

Northern Ireland (Workplace Population)

The workplace population of an area is defined as 'All usual residents aged 16 to 74 who are in employment and whose workplace is in the area'. People who work mainly at or from home or do not have a fixed place of work are included in the area of their usual residence.

The following population groups are excluded from the workplace population of an area:

• Those not working the week before 27 March 2011
• Those living in Northern Ireland but working in England, Wales, Scotland, outside the UK or on offshore installations
• Those with a place of work in Northern Ireland but who are not usually resident in Northern Ireland
• Short-term residents

Economic activity

Economic activity relates to whether or not a person who was aged 16 and over was working or looking for work in the week before census. Rather than a simple indicator of whether or not someone was currently in employment, it provides a measure of whether or not a person was an active participant in the labour market.

A person's economic activity is derived from their 'activity last week'. This is an indicator of their status or availability for employment - whether employed, unemployed, or their status if not employed and not seeking employment. Additional information included in the economic activity classification is also derived from information about the number of hours a person works and their type of employment - whether employed or self-employed.

The census concept of economic activity is compatible with the standard for economic status defined by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). It is one of a number of definitions used internationally to produce accurate and comparable statistics on employment, unemployment and economic status.

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.

Table shows estimates of resident population by 5 year age band from the 2011 Census of England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

England Wales local authorities, counties and regions, plus districts of Scotland and Northern Ireland and total UK population are included.

1) For the 2011 Census, a usual resident of the UK is anyone who, on census day 2011, was in the UK and had stayed or intended to stay in the UK for a period of 12 months or more, or had a permanent UK address and was outside the UK and intended to be outside the UK for less than 12 months.

2) The age of a person is derived from their date of birth. It is their age in years on their last birthday up to and including census day 2011. Dates of birth that imply an age over 115 are treated as invalid and the person's age is imputed.

3) Council area boundaries as at 1 April 2011.

4) Scotland figures in this table may not add exactly because they have been rounded to the nearest hundred.

5) Scotland has not published data by 5 year bands above 80, so all people aged 80+ are included in the 80-84 age group.

Sources:

Table qs103ew (England and Wales)

Table A1 (Scotland)

Table QS104NI (Northern Ireland)

Dataset population: Daytime population/Workplace population/Hectares

Daytime/workday population

Northern Ireland (Daytime Population)

The daytime population of an area is defined as 'All usual residents who are either in employment or full-time students in the area, or not in employment or full-time students but are usually resident in the area'. People who work or study mainly at or from home, or do not have a fixed place of work or study, are included in the area of their usual residence.

The following population groups are excluded from the daytime population of an area:

• Those living in Northern Ireland but working or studying in England, Wales, Scotland, outside the UK or on offshore installations
• Those with a place of work or study in Northern Ireland but who are not usually resident in Northern Ireland
• Short-term residents

Northern Ireland (Workplace Population)

The workplace population of an area is defined as 'All usual residents aged 16 to 74 who are in employment and whose workplace is in the area'. People who work mainly at or from home or do not have a fixed place of work are included in the area of their usual residence.

The following population groups are excluded from the workplace population of an area:

• Those not working the week before 27 March 2011
• Those living in Northern Ireland but working in England, Wales, Scotland, outside the UK or on offshore installations
• Those with a place of work in Northern Ireland but who are not usually resident in Northern Ireland
• Short-term residents

This dataset is a March 2021 UK estimates for a range of census topics. Based on Census 2021 totals for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, added to estimated equivalent values derived from Scotland’s Census 2022. This is created by ONS Census Customer Services.

Methodology

Here is the Quality and methods guide for census-based statistics UK: 2021.

These data have been created to provide an image of how UK census data may have looked if the most recent UK censuses had been conducted with an aligned date of 21 March 2021. They provide census-based estimates of the usual resident population and of households in the UK, Great Britain, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland and England and Wales combined.

These data contain estimates for a range of topics, based on data from the three most recent UK censuses:

• Census of England and Wales, 21 March 2021; conducted by the Office for National Statistics
• Census of Northern Ireland, 21 March 2021; conducted by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency
• Census of Scotland, 20 March 2022; conducted by National Records of Scotland

Data for England, Wales and Northern Ireland are taken from Census 2021 results, while data for Scotland are based on interpolated Census 2011 and 2022 results and adjusted to ensure they are in line with mid-year estimates for Scotland. Census source data used to construct these tables have been taken from Census 2021 data for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and Census 2011 and Census 2022 data for Scotland, all of which are publicly available.

Some of the data used in the construction of this publication are from previously published commissioned census datasets and custom datasets for Census 2021 and Census 2022, constructed using custom data tools on the ONS, NISRA and NRS websites.

It is important to emphasise that statistics presented in this publication for Scotland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, although derived from census statistics, are not considered to be census statistics themselves, but rather census-based statistics. For Scotland, statistics from Census 2022 remain the definitive census statistics.

Accreditation status

All source data used to create this publication have been granted Accredited Official Statistics by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR).

This means they have been independently reviewed by OSR and found to comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value as set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics. This means that they:

• meet identified user needs
• are well explained and easily accessible
• are produced based on appropriate data and methods
• are managed impartially and objectively in the public interest

This accreditation status is retained for the statistics in this dataset for England and Wales (separately and combined) and for Northern Ireland.

However, the statistics in this dataset for Scotland, Great Britain and the UK have just Official Statistics status, without accreditation.

The ONS have agreed this labelling with OSR, in recognition that methods required to create Scottish data for 2021, while pragmatic, necessarily involves greater uncertainty than had there been an actual data collection at that time.

This dataset provides population estimates for the local authorities in Wales, the English regions and the UK countries for the period from 1991 onwards by sex and single year of age, together with some aggregated age groups. It should be noted that for mid-2020 there are some definitional changes (particularly affecting the migration components) compared with mid-2019 population estimates data and it is advised users read the Quality and Methodology Information section on the Office for National Statistics website. For Wales, England, and Northern Ireland, the mid-2021 population estimates are the first population estimates to be based on the 2021 censuses for these countries. For Scotland, the census was moved to 2022. The mid-2022 population estimates are the first population estimates to be based on the 2022 Census for Scotland. Internal migration estimates for mid-2023 have been produced using a different method to previous years, following a change to the variables available in the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) data. This material is Crown Copyright and may be re-used (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence.

This dataset contains gridded human population with a spatial resolution of 1 km x 1 km for the UK based on Census 2021 (Census 2022 for Scotland) and Land Cover Map 2021 input data. Data on population distribution for the United Kingdom is available from statistical offices in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland and provided to the public e.g. via the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Population data is typically provided in tabular form or, based on a range of different geographical units, in file types for geographical information systems (GIS), for instance as ESRI Shapefiles. The geographical units reflect administrative boundaries at different levels of detail, from Devolved Administration to Output Areas (OA), wards or intermediate geographies. While the presentation of data on the level of these geographical units is useful for statistical purposes, accounting for spatial variability for instance of environmental determinants of public health requires a more spatially homogeneous population distribution. For this purpose, the dataset presented here combines 2021/2022 UK Census population data on Output Area level with Land Cover Map 2021 land-use classes 'urban' and 'suburban' to create a consistent and comprehensive gridded population data product at 1 km x 1 km spatial resolution. The mapping product is based on British National Grid (OSGB36 datum). Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/7beefde9-c520-4ddf-897a-0167e8918595

Population estimates for the UK, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland: mid-2019, using April 2020 local authority district codes. It contains the following sheets:

MYE1 Population estimates: Summary for the UK, mid-2019
MYE2 - Persons Population estimates: Persons by single year of age and sex for local authorities in the UK, mid-2019
MYE2 - Males Population estimates: Males by single year of age and sex for local authorities in the UK, mid-2019

MYE2 - Females Population estimates: Females by single year of age and sex for local authorities in the UK, mid-2019
MYE3 Components of population change for local authorities in the UK, mid-2019
MYE4 Population estimates: Summary for the UK, mid-1971 to mid-2019
MYE5 Population estimates: Population density for local authorities in the UK, mid-2001 to mid-2019
MYE6 Median age of population for local authorities in the UK, mid-2001 to mid-2019
Related publications Provides links to further population statistics and related publications

As of 2023, 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 According to the official mid-year population estimate, the population of the United Kingdom was just almost **** million in 2022. Most of the population lived in England, where an estimated **** million people resided, 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 the London region at around *** 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 *** billion British pounds, almost a quarter of UK GDP overall. 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 2021, 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.

Internal migration by local authorities in England and Wales

Definitions: Internal migration is defined as residential moves between different local authorities (LAs) in the UK, including those that cross the boundaries between the four UK nations: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. However, only moves affecting LAs in England and Wales are included; moves that occur solely within Scotland and/or Northern Ireland are excluded. The statistics also exclude any moves within a single LA and any international moves either into or out of the UK. The local authority and age/sex tables use this definition.

The regional tables follow the same principles, except that they only include moves that cross the boundaries of the English regions or the boundaries between the four UK nations. Any moves occurring within a single English region, or within Wales, are excluded.

Data sources: The quality of administrative data used in the production of internal migration estimates may change over time. These changes are outside the control of ONS.

Age: Defined as age as at 30 June 2012, so in many cases will be one year older than age at actual move.

Rounding: Values in tables are rounded to the nearest unit. For the age and sex table the rounding is to the nearest 10. This may mean that totals do not sum exactly.

Dataset population: Persons, Households

Census 2021 rounded population and household estimates for local authorities and regions in England and Wales, by sex and five-year age group.

Table qs103ew (England and Wales) Table A1 (Scotland) Table QS104NI (Northern Ireland)