The demography of London is analysed by the

Office for National Statistics The Office for National Statistics (ONS; cy, Swyddfa Ystadegau Gwladol) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the UK Parliament. Overview The ONS is responsible for t ...

and data is produced for each of the Greater London wards, the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

and the 32 London boroughs, the

Inner London Inner London is the name for the group of London boroughs which form the interior part of Greater London and are surrounded by Outer London. With its origins in the bills of mortality, it became fixed as an area for statistics in 1847 and was u ...

and

Outer London Outer London is the name for the group of London boroughs that form a ring around Inner London. Together, the inner and outer boroughs form London, the capital city of the United Kingdom. These were areas that were not part of the County of Londo ...

statistical sub-regions, each of the Parliamentary constituencies in London, and for all of Greater London as a whole. Additionally, data is produced for the

Greater London Urban Area The Greater London Built-up Area, or Greater London Urban Area, is a conurbation in south-east England that constitutes the continuous urban sprawl of London, and includes surrounding adjacent urban towns as defined by the Office for National Sta ...

. Statistical information is produced about the size and geographical breakdown of the population, the number of people entering and leaving country and the number of people in each demographic subgroup. The total population of London as of 2021 is 8,799,800.

History

Creation of Greater London - 1965

Through the London Government Act of 1963, the Greater London region was established.

Migration boom - 1997 to today

From 1997 onwards, London has experienced a drastic change in the composition of the city's population, which in part off set the decline of the population which had been occurring. In 1991, 21.7% of the city was foreign born but by 2011 this had risen to 36.7%. In 2011, a historic tipping point occurred with the release of the 2011 census indicating that the

White British White British is an ethnicity classification used for the native white population identifying as English, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish, Northern Irish, or British in the United Kingdom Census. In the 2011 census, the White British population ...

population, which had before been the majority, was now a minority of the city's population.

Population

The historical population for the current area of Greater London, divided into the statistical areas of Inner and Outer London is as follows:

Age

London population pyramid from 2001 to 2020

File:Barking and Dagenham population pyramid.svg, Barking and Dagenham File:Bexley population pyramid.svg, Bexley File:Brent population pyramid.svg, Brent File:Bromley population pyramid.svg, Bromley File:Camden population pyramid.svg, Camden File:City of London population pyramid.svg, City of London File:Croydon population pyramid.svg, Croydon File:Ealing population pyramid.svg, Ealing File:Enfield population pyramid.svg, Enfield File:Hackney population pyramid.svg, Hackney File:Greenwich population pyramid.svg, Greenwich File:Harrow population pyramid.svg, Harrow File:Hammersmith and Fulham population pyramid.svg, Hammersmith and Fulham File:Haringey population pyramid.svg, Haringey File:Hillingdon population pyramid.svg, Hillingdon File:Havering population pyramid.svg, Havering File:Hounslow population pyramid.svg, Hounslow File:Islington population pyramid.svg, Islington File:Kensington and Chelsea population pyramid.svg, Kensington and Chelsea File:Kingston upon Thames population pyramid.svg, Kingston upon Thames File:Lambeth population pyramid.svg, Lambeth File:Lewisham population pyramid.svg, Lewisham File:Merton population pyramid.svg, Merton File:Newham population pyramid.svg, Newham File:Redbridge population pyramid.svg, Redbridge File:Richmond upon Thames population pyramid.svg, Richmond upon Thames File:Southwark population pyramid.svg, Southwark File:Sutton population pyramid.svg, Sutton File:Waltham Forest population pyramid.svg, Waltham Forest File:Tower Hamlets population pyramid.svg, Tower Hamlets File:Wandsworth population pyramid.svg, Wandsworth File:Westminster population pyramid.svg, Westminster File:Under 15s in London.svg, Under 15s in London File:15 to 64 year olds (working age population) in London.svg, 15 to 64 year olds File:Over 65s in London.svg, Over 64 years old

Fertility

In 2021, a total of 110,961 live births occurred within the city. The fertility rate of London in 2021 was 1.52, which is below replacement. File:Teenage conception rate in London.svg, Teenage conception rate in London

Population density

The population density of London was 5,727 per km2 in 2011.

Urban and metropolitan area

At the 2001 census, the population of the

was 8,278,251. This area does not include some outliers within Greater London, but does extend into the adjacent

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It consists of the counties of Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Berkshi ...

and East of England regions. In 2004 the

London Plan The London Plan is the statutory spatial development strategy for the Greater London area in the United Kingdom that is written by the Mayor of London and published by the Greater London Authority. The regional planning document was first pu ...

of the

Mayor of London The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. The current m ...

defined a

metropolitan region A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually com ...

with a population of 18 million. Eurostat has developed a harmonising standard for comparing metropolitan areas in the European Union and the population of the London

Larger Urban Zone The larger urban zone (LUZ), or functional urban area (FUA), is a measure of the population and expanse of metropolitan and surrounding areas which may or may not be exclusively urban. It consists of a city and its commuting zone outside it. The ...

is 11,917,000; it occupies an area of . Another definition gives the population of the metropolitan area as 13,709,000.

Ethnicity

Ethnicity in boroughs

This table shows the proportion of different multi-ethnic groups by London borough, as found in the 2021 census. File:1991 White percentage London.svg, 1991 (79.8%) File:2001 White percentage London.svg, 2001 (71.2%) File:2011 White percentage London.svg, 2011 (59.8%) File:White percentage 2021 London.svg, 2021 (53.8%) File:1991 Asian percentage London.svg, 1991 (10.3%) File:2001 Asian percentage in London.svg, 2001 (13.2%) File:2011 Asian percentage in London.svg, 2011 (18.5%) File:Asian percentage 2021 London.svg, 2021 (20.8%) File:1991 Black percentage London.svg, 1991 (8%) File:2001 Black percentage in London.svg, 2001 (10.9%) File:2011 Black percentage in London.svg, 2011 (13.3%) File:Black percentage 2021 London.svg, 2021 (13.5%)

Ethnicity overall

London ethnic demographics from 1991 to 2021

The following table shows the ethnic group of respondents from estimates in 1971 and in the 1991 – 2021 censuses in Greater London. In January 2005, a survey of London's ethnic and religious diversity claimed that there were more than 300 languages spoken and 50 non-indigenous communities with a population of more than 10,000 in London. Ethnicity of school pupils File:White total school children in London.svg, White: Total File:White British school pupils percentage.svg, White:

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Ethnicity of births

Country of birth

The 2011 census recorded that 2,998,264 people or 36.7% of London's population are foreign-born (including 24.5% born in a non-European country) making London the city with the second largest immigrant population in absolute terms, after New York City. The table to the right shows the most common countries of birth of London residents. Note that some of the German-born population, in 18th position, are British citizens from birth born to parents serving in the British Armed Forces in Germany. File:Foreign born in London in 1971.svg, 1971 (15.3%) File:Foreign born in London in 1981.svg, 1981 (18.2%) File:Foreign born in London in 1991.svg, 1991 (21.7%) File:Foreign born in London in 2001.svg, 2001 (27.1%) File:Foreign born in London in 2011.svg, 2011 (36.7%) File:Foreign born in London boroughs 2021.svg, 2021 (40.3%) File:Born to foreign born mothers - 2007 in London.svg, 2007 File:Born to foreign born mothers - 2014 in London.svg, 2014 File:Born to foreign born mothers - 2021 in London.svg, 2021

Languages

According to the 2011 Census, 6,083,420 or 77.9% of London's population aged 3 and over spoke English as a main language, with a further 1,406,912 (19.8%) speaking it as a second language or well to very well. 271,693 (3.5%) could not speak English well, while 47,917 (0.6%) could not speak English at all. 2,456 (<0.1%) spoke other UK minority languages, with the most common being Welsh and 2,926 (<0.1%) used

British Sign Language British Sign Language (BSL) is a sign language used in the United Kingdom (UK), and is the first or preferred language among the Deaf community in the UK. Based on the percentage of people who reported 'using British Sign Language at home' on ...

. This shows also great challenges for TfL and other government services, for example most ticket vending machines use only English, French and up to 2 other western Europe hemisphere languages, while as shown below most demand is for Indian languages, Polish etc. The most common main languages spoken in Greater London according to the 2011 and 2021 censuses are shown below.

Religion

The following table shows the religion of respondents in the 2001 and 2011 censuses in Greater London.

Social issues

Marriage and divorce

In 2019, a total of 29,139 marriages occurred within London.

Abortion

In 2020, 27.7% of conceptions were aborted in the city. File:Percentage of conceptions aborted in London.svg, Percentage of conceptions aborted in London by each borough in 2020 File:Abortion rates by age group in London.svg, Abortion rates by age group in London

Health

In 2021, the suicide rate in total was 6.6 for every 100,000 people. For males this was 9.9 and for females this was 3.4. File:Age standardised suicide rates in London.svg, Suicide rates in London File:Drug misuse rate in London.svg, Drug misuse rate in London File:Percentage of Year 6s obese in 2020 in London.svg, Percentage of Year 6s obese in 2020 in London File:Percentage of Reception age children obese in 2020 in London.svg, Percentage of Reception age children obese in 2020

Income and industry

The vast majority of people within London work in the service sector. File:Employment rate in London.svg, Employment rate in London File:Unemployment rate in London.svg, Unemployment rate in London File:GDHI across London in 2020.svg, Gross Domestic Household Income (GDHI) across London in 2020 File:London's industry over time.svg, London's industry over time File:Employment in public or private sector in London.svg, Employment in public or private sector in London

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Demography Of London Geography of London

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

History of London