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.

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 2023. That year, inbound visits to the UK's capital totaled just over ** million, staying roughly ***** percent lower than in 2019, prior to the coronavirus (COVID-19) 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 2023 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 2023, 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. While attendance at many of London’s top tourist attractions saw a significant increase in 2023 compared to the previous year, attendance generally remained below pre-pandemic levels. 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 an April 2024 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. London came second in the ranking.

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).

All cities with a population > 1000 or seats of adm div (ca 80.000)Sources and ContributionsSources : GeoNames is aggregating over hundred different data sources. Ambassadors : GeoNames Ambassadors help in many countries. Wiki : A wiki allows to view the data and quickly fix error and add missing places. Donations and Sponsoring : Costs for running GeoNames are covered by donations and sponsoring.Enrichment:add country name

Cambridge was the fastest growing city in the United Kingdom between 2013 and 2023, with its population increasing by 17.3 percent. Exeter, Milton Keynes, and Peterborough also grew quite fast, with their populations increasing by 15.2 percent, 14.9 percent, and 14 percent, respectively. Largest UK urban areas When looking at cities defined by their urban agglomerations, as of 2023, London had approximately 9.65 million people living there, far larger than any other city in the United Kingdom. The urban agglomeration around the city of Birmingham had a population of approximately 2.67 million, while the urban areas around Manchester and Leeds had populations of 2.79 and 1.92 million respectively. London not only dominated other UK cities in terms of its population, but in its importance to the UK economy. In 2023, the gross domestic product of Greater London was approximately 569 billion British pounds, compared with 101 billion for Greater Manchester, and 85 billion in the West Midlands Metropolitan Area centered around Birmingham. UK population growth In 2023, the overall population of the United Kingdom was estimated to have reached approximately 68.3 million, compared with around 58.9 million in 2000. Since 1970, 2023 was also the year with the highest population growth rate, growing by 0.98 percent, and was at its lowest in 1982 when it shrank by 0.12 percent. Although the UK's birth rate has declined considerably in recent years, immigration to the UK has been high enough to drive population growth in the UK, which has had a positive net migration rate since 1994.

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.

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

Annual estimates of balanced UK regional gross domestic product (GDP). Current price estimates and chained volume measures for combined authorities and city regions.

The NTEM SynthPop project required open data, as per OGL License (v1.0).

The data register:

data_register:
geography_msoa_ew:
description: MSOA boundaries, 2021.
geography: MSOA
region: England and Wales
last accessed: 10/06/2024
link: https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/datasets/ons::middle-layer-super-output-areas-december-2021-boundaries-ew-bsc-v2/about
notes: (BSC) Super generalised (200m) - clipped to the coastline (Mean High Water mark).
path: "MSOA_2021_EW_BSC_V2.gpkg"
source: Open Geography Portal
year: 2021
geography_iz_sc:
description: Proposed IZ boundaries, 2022.
geography: IZ
region: Scotland
last accessed: 19/08/2024
link: https://scotgov.maps.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=90bf46cbf2254e80820a98d815c8fbcf
notes: Proposed Intermediate Zones 2022 Boundaries - for consultation
path: "Proposed_IZ_2022_Boundaries.zip"
source: "Scotland Census"
year: 2022
geography_oa_ew:
description: OA boundaries, 2021.
geography: OA
region: England and Wales
last accessed: 24/06/2024
link: https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/datasets/ons::output-areas-december-2021-boundaries-ew-bgc-v2/about
notes: (BGC) Generalised (20m) - clipped to the coastline (Mean High Water mark).
path: "boundaries/Output_Areas_2021_EW_BGC_V2.gpkg"
source: Open Geography Portal
year: 2021
geography_lad_2018_gb:
description: LAD boundaries, 2018.
geography: LAD
region: England, Wales and Scotland
last accessed: 19/11/2024
link: https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/datasets/ons::local-authority-districts-december-2018-boundaries-gb-bfc-2/about
notes: This file contains the digital vector boundaries for Local Authority Districts in Great Britain, as at December 2018.
path: "boundaries/LAD_Dec_2018_Boundaries_GB_BFC_2022_544341751432792127.gpkg"
source: Open Geography Portal
year: 2018
geography_msoa_population_weighted_centroids_ew:
description: Population-weighted centroids for MSOA boundaries.
geography: MSOA
region: England & Wales
last accessed: 31/05/2024
link: https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk
notes: "This file contains the digital population weighted centroids for Middle layer Super Output Areas for England and Wales as at 31 December 2021. The centroids were created using Full Resolution, Extent of the Realm boundaries. Contains both Ordnance Survey and ONS Intellectual Property Rights."
path: "boundaries/Middle_Super_Output_Areas_DEC_2021_EW_PWC.gpkg"
source: Office for National Statistics
year: 2021
geography_msoa_2011_2021_ew_lookup_best_fit:
description: Lookup table between 2011 and 2021 MSOA boundaries and 2022 Local Authority Districts (best fit).
geography: MSOA
region: England & Wales
last accessed: 31/05/2024
link: https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk
notes: "A best fit lookup file between Middle layer Super Output Areas (MSOA) as at December 2011 and MSOAs as at December 2021 in England and Wales. The lookup contains all the 2011 MSOAs (7,201) and these are point-in-polygon to the 2021 MSOA full extent boundaries (which contains 7,182 records, so 82 MSOAs are missing from the 2021 MSOAs)."
path: "boundaries/MSOA_(2011)_to_MSOA_(2021)_to_Local_Authority_District_(2022)_Best_Fit_Lookup_for_EW_(V2).csv"
source: Office for National Statistics
year: 2021
geography_msoa_2011_2021_ew_lookup_exact_fit:
description: Lookup table between 2011 and 2021 MSOA boundaries and 2022 Local Authority Districts (exact fit).
geography: MSOA
region: England & Wales
last accessed: 31/05/2024
link: https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk
notes: >
This is an exact fit lookup file between Middle layer Super Output Areas as at December 2011 and Middle layer Super Output Areas as at December 2021 and Local Authority Districts as at December 2022 in England and Wales. This product has been provided with a change indicator field, that define the lookup between 2011 and 2021 MSOA. This field indicates which output areas / super output areas have changed between 2011 and 2021. This version 2 has had some changes to the change indicator field where splits have gone to complexes in under 10 MSOAs. There are four designated categories to describe the changes, and these are as follows:
U - No Change from 2011 to 2021. This means that direct comparisons can be made between these 2011 and 2021 MSOA.
S - Split. This means that the 2011 MSOA has been split into two or more 2021 MSOA. There will be one record for each of the 2021 MSOA that the 2011 MSOA has been split into. This means direct comparisons can be made between estimates for the single 2011 MSOA and the estimates from the aggregated 2021 MSOA.
M - Merged. 2011 MSOA have been merged with another one or more 2011 MSOA to form a single 2021 MSOA. This means direct comparisons can be made between the aggregated 2011 MSOAs’ estimates and the single 2021 MSOA’s estimates.
X - The relationship between 2011 and 2021 MSOA is irregular and fragmented. This has occurred where 2011 MSOA have been redesigned because of local authority district boundary changes, or to improve their social homogeneity. These can’t be easily mapped to equivalent 2021 MSOA like the regular splits (S) and merges (M), and therefore like for like comparisons of estimates for 2011 MSOA and 2021 MSOA are not possible.'
path: "boundaries/MSOA_(2011)_to_MSOA_(2021)_to_Local_Authority_District_(2022)_Lookup_for_England_and_Wales.gpkg"
source: Office for National Statistics
year: 2021
lookup_msoa_2021_region_ew:
description: Lookup between 2021 Middle Layer Super Output Areas (MSOA), built up areas (BUA), local authority districts (LAD) and regions (RGN) (best fit).
geography: MSOA
region: England & Wales
last accessed: 24/06/2024
link: https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/datasets/ons::msoa-2021-to-bua-to-lad-to-region-december-2022-best-fit-lookup-in-ew-v2/about
notes: "A best fit lookup file between Middle layer Super Output Areas (MSOA) as at December 2011 and MSOAs as at December 2021 in England and Wales. The lookup contains all the 2011 MSOAs (7,201) and these are point-in-polygon to the 2021 MSOA full extent boundaries (which contains 7,182 records, so 82 MSOAs are missing from the 2021 MSOAs)."
path: "boundaries/MSOA_(2021)_to_Built-up_Area_to_Local_Authority_District_to_Region_(December_2022)_Lookup_in_England_and_Wales_v2.csv"
source: Office for National Statistics
year: 2021
lookup_oa_2011_oa_2021_ew:
description: Lookup between 2011 Output Areas (OA11) and 2021 Output Areas (OA21).
geography: OA
region: England & Wales
last accessed: 28/08/2024
link: https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/datasets/ons::oa-2011-to-oa-2021-to-local-authority-district-2022-exact-fit-lookup-in-ew-v2/about
notes: "This is an exact-fit lookup file between Output Areas as at December 2011 and Output Areas as at December 2021 and Local Authority Districts as at December 2022 in England and Wales."
path: "boundaries/OA11_OA21_LAD22_EW_LU_Exact_fit_V2_7175137222568651779.csv"
source: Office for National Statistics
year: 2021
lookup_oa_2021_msoa_2021_ew:
description: Lookup between Output Areas (OA 2021) and Middle Layer Super Output Areas (MSOA 2021).
geography: OA, MSOA
region: England & Wales
last accessed: 28/08/2024
link: https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/datasets/ons::output-area-2021-to-lsoa-to-msoa-to-lad-december-2021-exact-fit-lookup-in-ew-v3/about
notes: "A lookup between Output Areas (OA), Lower layer Super Output Areas (LSOA), Middle layer Super Output Areas (LSOA) and Local Authority Districts (LAD) as at 31 December 2021 in England and Wales."
path: "boundaries/Output_Area_to_Lower_layer_Super_Output_Area_to_Middle_layer_Super_Output_Area_to_Local_Authority_District_(December_2021)_Lookup_in_England_and_Wales_v3.csv"
source: Office for National Statistics
year: 2021
census_households_oa_2021_ew:
description: TS041-oa - Number of Households (output areas).
geography: OA
region: England & Wales
last accessed: 07/08/2024
link: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/output/census/2021/census2021-ts041.zip
notes: Number of Households (oa).
path: "census_2021/census2021-ts041-oa.csv"
source: Office for National Statistics
year: 2021
ruc_oa_ew:
description: Rural / Urban classification at Output Area (OA) level.
geography: OA
region: England & Wales
last accessed: 07/08/2024
link: https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/datasets/53360acabd1e4567bc4b8d35081b36ff/about
notes: "This file provides a rural-urban view of 2011 Output Areas (OA) in England and Wales."
path: "ruc/RUC11_OA11_EW.csv"
source: Office for National Statistics
year: 2021
geography_ntem:
description: NTEM zoning system.
geography: NTEM
region: GB
path: "..."
year: 2021
template_populationsim:
description: Template PopulationSim set up.
geography: MSOA
region: GB
path: "template_populationsim"
source: PopulationSim repo & Arup
year: 2021
nts_persons:
description: Individuals table from the National Travel Survey for the period 2002-2022.
geography: Region
region: England, Wales & Scotland
path: "nts/individual_eul_2002-2022.tab"
nts_households:
description: Households table from the National Travel Survey for

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

FOCUSON**LONDON**2010:**POPULATION**AND**MIGRATION**

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.

https://londondatastore-upload.s3.amazonaws.com/fol/FocusOnLondonCoverweb.jpg" alt="">

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.

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.

In 2019, people from most ethnic minority groups were more likely than White British people to live in the most deprived neighbourhoods.

This release provides insights into self-reported health in England and Wales in 2021, broken down by age and sex. Key findings are presented at country, regional and local authority level. Additional analyses compare general health to the 2011 Census and examines the relationship between deprivation and health at a national decile (England) or quintile (Wales) level can be found here.

In 2021 and 2011, people were asked “How is your health in general?”. The response options were:

• Very good
• Good
• Fair
• Bad
• Very bad

Age specific percentage

Age-specific percentages are estimates of disability prevalence in each age group, and are used to allow comparisons between specified age groups. Further information is in the glossary.

Age-standardised percentage

Age-standardised percentages are estimates of disability prevalence in the population, across all age groups. They allow for comparison between populations over time and across geographies, as they account for differences in the population size and age structure. Further information is in the glossary.

Details on usage of Age-standardised percentage can be found here

Count

The count is the number of usual residents by general health status from very good to very bad, sex, age group and geographic breakdown. To ensure that individuals cannot be identified in the data, counts and populations have been rounded to the nearest 5, and counts under 10 have not been included..

General health

A person's assessment of the general state of their health from very good to very bad. This assessment is not based on a person's health over any specified period of time.

Index of Multiple Deprivation and Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation

National deciles and quintiles of area deprivation are created through ranking small geographical populations known as Lower layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs), based on their deprivation score from most to least deprived. They are then grouped into 10 (deciles) or 5 (quintiles) divisions based on the subsequent ranking. We have used the 2019 IMD and WIMD because this is the most up-to-date version at the time of publishing.

Population

The population is the number of usual residents of each sex, age group and geographic breakdown. To ensure that individuals cannot be identified in the data, counts and populations have been rounded to the nearest 5, and counts under 10 have not been included.

Usual resident

For Census 2021, a usual resident of the UK is anyone who, on census day, 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.

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).

This data is experimental, see the ‘Access Constraints or User Limitations’ section for more details. This dataset has been generalised to 10 metre resolution where it is still but the space needed for downloads will be improved.

A set of UK wide estimated travel area geometries (isochrones), from Output Area (across England, Scotland, and Wales) and Small Area (across Northern Ireland) population-weighted centroids. The modes used in the isochrone calculations are limited to public transport and walking. Generated using Open Trip Planner routing software in combination with Open Street Maps and open public transport schedule data (UK and Ireland).

The geometries provide an estimate of reachable areas by public transport and on foot between 7:15am and 9:15am for a range of maximum travel durations (15, 30, 45 and 60 minutes). For England, Scotland and Wales, these estimates were generated using public transport schedule data for Tuesday 15th November 2022. For Northern Ireland, the date used is Tuesday 6th December 2022.

The data is made available as a set of ESRI shape files, in .zip format. This corresponds to a total of 18 files; one for Northern Ireland, one for Wales, twelve for England (one per English region, where London, South East and North West have been split into two files each) and four for Scotland (one per NUTS2 region, where the ‘North-East’ and ‘Highlands and Islands’ have been combined into one shape file, and South West Scotland has been split into two files).

The shape files contain the following attributes. For further details, see the ‘Access Constraints or User Limitations’ section:

House prices vary widely in the United Kingdom (UK), but housing in certain cities and counties is substantially pricier than in others. Surrey, for example, concentrated four of the most expensive towns to buy a home, including Virginia Water, Cobham, and Esher. With an average house price of over one million British pounds as of June 2024, housing in these towns cost roughly four times the national average. How did house prices change since the COVID-19 pandemic? Since the start of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, demand for housing has been especially high, causing house prices to soar. Among major UK cities, the house price increase was most prominent in Belfast, where it rose by 5.5 percent in 2024. According to the UK House Price Index, the average annual house price increase on a national level was even higher. How long does it take to sell a house? With the demand for housing going strong and inventory running low, aspiring homeowners need to act faster than ever when making an offer on a home. The average number of days on market has continued shortening since the start of 2021 and was a little over a month as of October 2021. Surprisingly, selling a property took the longest in the UK’s most competitive market - London.

Annual data on death registrations by area of usual residence in the UK. Summary tables including age-standardised mortality rates.