London was by far the largest urban agglomeration in the United Kingdom in 2025, with an estimated population of *** 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 Istanbul having a population of around **** million and the Russian capital Moscow having a population of over **** 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 **** million people. Paris was followed by London in terms of population size, and then by the Spanish cities of Madrid and Barcelona, at *** million and *** million people, respectively. The Italian capital, Rome, was the next largest city at *** million, followed by Berlin at *** million. London’s population growth Throughout the 1980s, the population of London fluctuated from a high of **** million people in 1981 to a low of **** million inhabitants in 1988. During the 1990s, the population of London increased once again, growing from ****million at the start of the decade to **** million by 1999. London's population has continued to grow since the turn of the century, and despite declining between 2019 and 2021, it reached *** million people in 2023 and is forecast to reach almost *** million by 2047.
This statistic shows the ten largest cities in the United Kingdom in 2021. In 2021, around 8.78 million people lived in London, making it the largest city in the United Kingdom.
London was by far the most visited city by international tourists in the United Kingdom in 2024. That year, inbound visits to the UK's capital totaled just over ** million, staying marginally lower than in 2019, prior to the coronavirus pandemic. Edinburgh and Manchester followed in the ranking, reporting around *** million and *** million visits, respectively. Overall, the number of inbound visits to the UK reached ** million in 2024 but remained below pre-pandemic levels. What is the leading tourist attraction in London? Tourists visit London for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is its attractions. In 2024, the British Museum was London’s most visited tourist attraction, drawing in approximately *** million visitors. The Natural History Museum in South Kensington and the Tate Modern came next in the ranking, with about *** and *** million visitors, respectively. What is the leading region for summer staycations in the UK? A 'staycation' typically refers to a holiday spent in one's home country rather than abroad. It can also refer to a holiday spent at home involving day trips to local attractions. The leading region for summer staycations in the UK, according to a March 2025 survey, was the South West. Meanwhile, ** percent of respondents said that they intended to visit Scotland during their summer holiday while only *** percent stated that they would like to visit Northern Ireland.
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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).
This statistic shows the ten cities with the highest number of businesses per 10,000 population in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2018. London had the highest number of businesses per 10,000 population in this year at ***, followed by Milton Keynes which had ***.
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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.
This project will explore the impact of the economic recession on cities and households through a systematic comparison of the experiences of two English cities, Bristol and Liverpool.The research will use both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Interviews will be held in both cities with stakeholders from across the public, private and voluntary and community sectors. A social survey of 1000 households will also be conducted in the two cities covering 10 specific household types. A series of in-depth qualitative interviews will then be held with households drawn from the survey and chosen to illustrate the spectrum of experience.In the context of globalisation and the rescaling of cities and states, the research aims to develop our understanding of the relationship between economic crisis, global connectivity and the transnational processes shaping cities and the everyday lives of residents. It will explore the 'capillary-like' impact of the crisis and austerity measures on local economic development, and local labour and housing markets, as well as highlight the intersecting realities of everyday life for households across the life course.The research will document the responses and coping strategies developed across different household types and evaluate the impact and effectiveness of 'anti-recession' strategies and policies.
The Transforming Cities Fund (TCF) is a £2.45 billion capital grant transport fund aimed at driving up productivity through investments in public and sustainable transport infrastructure in some of England’s largest city regions.
It was launched at Autumn Budget 2017 and expanded in Budget 2018.
Improving access to good jobs within English cities and encouraging an increase in journeys made by low-carbon and sustainable modes of transport are key objectives of the TCF.
The TCF also aims to support the following wider cross-cutting priorities:
The original call for proposals and application guidance for shortlisted cities are available on the https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20210318001355/https:/www.gov.uk/government/publications/apply-for-the-transforming-cities-fund" class="govuk-link">National Archives.
Around half of the TCF (£1.08 billion) has been allocated to 6 Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) on a per capita and devolved basis. View the funding allocations awarded to MCAs.
At Budget 2018, an additional £90 million was announced for Future Transport Zones (originally known as Future Mobility Zones), which will be used to trial new transport modes, services, and digital payments and ticketing in the following 4 local authorities:
See Evaluation of the future transport zones programme for more information.
In Tranche 1 of the TCF, 30 projects from 10 shortlisted English city regions were awarded £60 million in funding. Learn more about Tranche 1 and view the funding allocations.
In Tranche 2 of TCF, 12 shortlisted cities had the opportunity to bid for a share of £1.22 billion of funding. Learn more about Tranche 2 and view the funding allocations.
All TCF funding has now been awarded.
The timeline is:
An independent contractor is <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transforming-cities-fund-tcf-eval
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This is a collection of Opportunity Maps for mine water heat, produced for the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero, and their contractor AECOM, covering the following 10 cities: Birmingham, Bristol, Coventry, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland. Also included is a report outlining the methodology criteria for the opportunity map assessment. The dataset has been developed using Coal Authority data, consisting of Underground Workings data, and Environmental Data, and a bespoke assessment methodology. It consists of 15m x 15m square grid cells, containing attribution of Good, Possible, Challenging on the basis of the opportunity method criteria and expert input. In November 2024, the Coal Authority changed its name to the Mining Remediation Authority to better reflect its mission and continued commitment to environmental sustainability, safety, and community support.
Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. You are welcome to contact us directly by emailing transport.statistics@dft.gov.uk with any comments about how we meet these standards.
These statistics on transport use are published monthly.
For each day, the Department for Transport (DfT) produces statistics on domestic transport:
The associated methodology notes set out information on the data sources and methodology used to generate these headline measures.
From September 2023, these statistics include a second rail usage time series which excludes Elizabeth Line service (and other relevant services that have been replaced by the Elizabeth line) from both the travel week and its equivalent baseline week in 2019. This allows for a more meaningful like-for-like comparison of rail demand across the period because the effects of the Elizabeth Line on rail demand are removed. More information can be found in the methodology document.
The table below provides the reference of regular statistics collections published by DfT on these topics, with their last and upcoming publication dates.
Mode | Publication and link | Latest period covered and next publication |
---|---|---|
Road traffic | Road traffic statistics | Full annual data up to December 2024 was published in June 2025. Quarterly data up to March 2025 was published June 2025. |
Rail usage | The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) publishes a range of statistics including passenger and freight rail performance and usage. Statistics are available at the https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/">ORR website. Statistics for rail passenger numbers and crowding on weekdays in major cities in England and Wales are published by DfT. |
ORR’s latest quarterly rail usage statistics, covering January to March 2025, was published in June 2025. DfT’s most recent annual passenger numbers and crowding statistics for 2023 were published in September 2024. |
Bus usage | Bus statistics | The most recent annual publication covered the year ending March 2024. The most recent quarterly publication covered January to March 2025. |
TfL tube and bus usage | Data on buses is covered by the section above. https://tfl.gov.uk/status-updates/busiest-times-to-travel">Station level business data is available. | |
Cycling usage | Walking and cycling statistics, England | 2023 calendar year published in August 2024. |
Cross Modal and journey by purpose | National Travel Survey | 2023 calendar year data published in August 2024. |
This release presents information about rail passenger numbers on trains throughout the day in several major cities, as well as the levels of peak crowding in 2014.
These statistics are based on passenger counts carried out by franchised train operators of the numbers of passengers using their services in the autumn period and represent passenger numbers on a ‘typical weekday’. They cover national rail services only.
The overall level of crowding across the 11 cities included in the statistics has increased, and it is clear that much of the growth has been on routes that are already very busy.
On a typical autumn weekday in 2014:
Background information on the rail passenger numbers and crowding statistics and how they are collected can be found in the notes and definitions
Rail statistics enquiries
Email mailto:rail.stats@dft.gov.uk">rail.stats@dft.gov.uk
Media enquiries 0300 7777 878
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A CSV file containing the best fit lookup between 2011 Output Areas (OA) and Major Towns and Cities (TCITY) as at December 2015 in England and Wales. The TCITY statistical geography provides a precise definition of the major towns and cities in England and Wales. The geography has been developed specifically for the production and analysis of statistics, and is based on the Built-Up Areas geography that was created for the release of 2011 Census data. (File Size 6.5MB).Field Names – OA01CD, OA01CDOLD, TCITY15CD, TCITY15NM
Field Types – Text, Text, Text, Text
Field Lengths – 9, 10, 9, 25REST URL of Feature Access Service – https://services1.arcgis.com/ESMARspQHYMw9BZ9/arcgis/rest/services/OA01_TCITY15_EW_LU_a0e2581567bc425ba62da183b51ead0f/FeatureServer
For more information and an overview of best-fitting follow this link - https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/datasets/f0aac7ccbfd04cda9eb03e353c613faa/about
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Annual estimates of balanced UK regional gross domestic product (GDP). Current price estimates and chained volume measures for combined authorities and city regions.
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Field Names – OA01CD, OA01CDOLD, TCITY15CD, TCITY15NM Field Types – Text, Text, Text, Text Field Lengths – 9, 10, 9, 25REST URL of Feature Access Service – https://services1.arcgis.com/ESMARspQHYMw9BZ9/arcgis/rest/services/OA01_TCITY15_EW_LU_a0e2581567bc425ba62da183b51ead0f/FeatureServer For more information and an overview of best-fitting follow this link - https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/datasets/f0aac7ccbfd04cda9eb03e353c613faa/about
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This dataset is about museums in the United Kingdom. It has 10 rows. It features 4 columns: country, city, and visitors.
This publication provides information on the number of passengers travelling by rail into and out of a number of major city centres in England and Wales. Due to high levels of rail passenger demand in Greater London compared to every other major city in England and Wales, further detail is provided on individual stations in central London.
The statistics are based on counts of passengers carried out in England and Wales between 16 September and 13 December 2024. Data is collected from franchised train operators at selected major cities across England and Wales. It does not include Open Access operators such as Heathrow Express and Lumo.
This publication focuses on passenger numbers during the morning and evening peak hours on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, when rail travel tends to be busiest. The AM peak covers trains arriving into city centres between 07:00 and 09:59, whereas the PM peak reflects trains departing between 16:00 and 18:59. A city centre is defined using a cordon to include the major city centre stations. In some cases, passengers will not alight at the cordon station but are counted there. For crowding statistics, passengers are counted at the busiest station on the route when entering or leaving the city centre.
The loading at the busiest point for the 10 most crowded peak train services in England and Wales during the autumn period is also presented.
Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. You are welcome to contact us directly by emailing rail.stats@dft.gov.uk with any comments about how we meet these standards.
Rail statistics enquiries
Email mailto:rail.stats@dft.gov.uk">rail.stats@dft.gov.uk
Media enquiries 0300 7777 878
To hear more about the Department for Transport’s statistical publications as they are released, follow us on X at https://x.com/dftstats" class="govuk-link">DfTstats.
The top 100 Airbnb markets in 2025 are: 1. London - Lenient regulations, 51,638 listings, 73% occupancy rate, £152 daily rate. See other 99 places.
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This document forms part of the REDEFINE research project (ERC Grant No. 885475), funded by the European Research Council. REDEFINE focuses on the dynamics and effects of China’s large-scale infrastructure investments in Europe, with a focus on Germany, Greece, Hungary, and the UK. Through multi-sited fieldwork and interdisciplinary analysis, the project seeks to understand the evolving relations between China and Europe and to assess what this means for politics, economic growth and development more broadly.This anonymised interview transcript presents a semi-structured interview (Part 1) conducted with former city council leader P10 and Manchester Community leader P2. The conversation contributes to REDEFINE’s case study of Chinese investment in Airport City Manchester. All identifying details have been removed, and informed consent for participation and data use was obtained.
In 2025, Moscow was the largest city in Europe with an estimated urban agglomeration of 12.74 million people. The French capital, Paris, was the second largest city in 2025 at 11.35 million, followed by the capitals of the United Kingdom and Spain, with London at 9.84 million and Madrid at 6.81 million people. Istanbul, which would otherwise be the largest city in Europe in 2025, is excluded as it is only partially in Europe, with a sizeable part of its population living in Asia. Europe’s population is almost 750 million Since 1950, the population of Europe has increased by approximately 200 million people, increasing from 550 million to 750 million in these seventy years. Before the turn of the millennium, Europe was the second-most populated continent, before it was overtaken by Africa, which saw its population increase from 228 million in 1950 to 817 million by 2000. Asia has consistently had the largest population of the world’s continents and was estimated to have a population of 4.6 billion. Europe’s largest countries Including its territory in Asia, Russia is by far the largest country in the world, with a territory of around 17 million square kilometers, almost double that of the next largest country, Canada. Within Europe, Russia also has the continent's largest population at 145 million, followed by Germany at 83 million and the United Kingdom at almost 68 million. By contrast, Europe is also home to various micro-states such as San Marino, which has a population of just 30 thousand.
The City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements (CRSTS) programme is a £5.7 billion investment in local transport networks. It provides consolidated, long-term capital funding to 8 city regions across England through 5-year settlements from tax year 2022 to 2023 to 2026 to 2027.
Settlements have been confirmed for the following Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) under CRSTS:
MCA | Funding amount |
---|---|
Greater Manchester | £1.07 billion |
Liverpool City Region | £710 million |
North East | £563 million |
South Yorkshire | £570 million |
Tees Valley | £310 million |
West of England | £540 million |
West Midlands | £1.05 billion |
West Yorkshire | £830 million |
Letters from the Secretary of State for Transport to metro mayors confirming the delivery plans funded through their CRSTS allocations.
The delivery plans agreed in July 2022 contain the list of schemes and milestones for each city region. Delivery plans have been agreed with government in line with the fund objectives and based on the plans put forward by city regions. Progress against planned milestones will be updated over the period.
Delivery plans have been agreed with approximately 10% of overprogramming, as it is likely that over the 5-year settlement period schemes may change in timing, scope or cost. City regions have flexibility to manage delivery within this overprogramming locally while retaining the required degree of government oversight.
City regions are responsible for sourcing locally any additional funding required to deliver overprogrammed scope.
MCAs were offered the opportunity to revise their CRSTS 1 delivery plans to ensure they remained realistic and achievable.
In addition, the overprogramming of delivery plans was increased from 10% to 25% to allow MCAs to develop pipelines for their future programmes
DfT assessed and agreed revised delivery plans in March 2024.
The revision process for Tees Valley Combined Authority’s CRSTS delivery plan is ongoing.
The North East Combined Authority was formed in May 2024 and has since been working with DfT to agree a CRSTS delivery plan for the region. The delivery plan is currently being finalised.
We will update this page once this work is finalised.
The National Infrastructure Strategy committed to investments in local transport networks to improve productivity in our largest cities. The CRSTS programme aims to deliver transformational change through investments in public and sustainable transport infrastructure in some of England’s largest city regions. CRSTS funding is targeted at the following objectives:
London was by far the largest urban agglomeration in the United Kingdom in 2025, with an estimated population of *** 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 Istanbul having a population of around **** million and the Russian capital Moscow having a population of over **** 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 **** million people. Paris was followed by London in terms of population size, and then by the Spanish cities of Madrid and Barcelona, at *** million and *** million people, respectively. The Italian capital, Rome, was the next largest city at *** million, followed by Berlin at *** million. London’s population growth Throughout the 1980s, the population of London fluctuated from a high of **** million people in 1981 to a low of **** million inhabitants in 1988. During the 1990s, the population of London increased once again, growing from ****million at the start of the decade to **** million by 1999. London's population has continued to grow since the turn of the century, and despite declining between 2019 and 2021, it reached *** million people in 2023 and is forecast to reach almost *** million by 2047.