Demography of London

The demography of London is analysed by the Office for National Statistics and data is produced for each of the Greater London wards, the City of London and the 32 London boroughs, the Inner London and Outer London 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. 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.

Population density in the 2011 census in Greater London.

Inner London and Outer London as defined by the Office for National Statistics

Population change

The historical population for the current area of Greater London, divided into the statistical areas of Inner and Outer London is as follows:[1][2][3]

19th-century population of London

Year	1801	1811	1821	1831	1841	1851	1861	1871	1881	1891
Inner London	879,491	1,040,033	1,263,975	1,515,557	1,661,346	1,995,846	2,634,143	3,272,441	3,910,735	4,422,340
Outer London	131,666	157,640	186,147	214,392	255,667	290,763	460,248	629,737	799,225	1,143,516
Greater London	1,011,157	1,197,673	1,450,122	1,729,949	1,917,013	2,286,609	3,094,391	3,902,178	4,709,960	5,565,856

20th-century population of London

Year	1901	1911	1921	1931	1941	1951	1961	1971	1981	1991
Inner London	4,670,177	4,997,741	4,936,803	4,887,932	4,224,135	3,680,821	3,336,557	3,030,490	2,425,534	2,625,245
Outer London	1,556,317	2,160,134	2,616,723	3,211,010	3,763,801	4,483,595	4,444,785	4,418,694	4,182,979	4,262,035
Greater London	6,226,494	7,157,875	7,553,526	8,098,942	7,987,936	8,164,416	7,781,342	7,449,184	6,608,513	6,887,280

21st-century population of London

Year	2001	2011[4]
Inner London	2,765,975	3,231,900
Outer London	4,406,061	4,942,100
Greater London	7,172,036	8,173,900

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1801	1,011,157	—
1811	1,197,673	+1.71%
1821	1,450,122	+1.93%
1831	1,729,949	+1.78%
1841	1,917,013	+1.03%
1851	2,286,609	+1.78%
1861	3,094,391	+3.07%
1871	3,902,178	+2.35%
1881	4,709,960	+1.90%
1891	5,565,856	+1.68%
1901	6,226,494	+1.13%
1911	7,157,875	+1.40%
1921	7,553,526	+0.54%
1931	8,098,942	+0.70%
1941	7,987,936	−0.14%
1951	8,164,416	+0.22%
1961	7,781,342	−0.48%
1971	7,449,184	−0.44%
1981	6,608,513	−1.19%
1991	6,887,280	+0.41%
2001	7,172,036	+0.41%
2011	8,173,941	+1.32%
2019[5]	8,961,989	+1.16%

Race by borough

This table shows the proportion of different races by London borough, as found in the 2011 census.

Racial make-up of London boroughs (2011)

Local authority	White	Mixed	Asian	Black	Other
Barnet	64.1	4.8	18.5	7.7	4.8
Barking and Dagenham	58.3	4.2	15.9	20	1.6
Bexley	81.9	2.3	6.6	8.5	0.8
Brent	36.3	5.1	34.1	18.8	5.8
Bromley	84.3	3.5	5.2	6	0.9
Camden	66.3	5.6	16.1	8.2	3.8
City of London	78.6	3.9	12.7	2.6	2.1
Croydon	55.1	6.6	16.4	20.2	1.8
Ealing	49	4.5	29.7	10.9	6
Enfield	61	5.5	11.2	17.2	5.1
Greenwich	62.5	4.8	11.7	19.1	1.9
Hackney	54.7	6.4	10.5	23.1	5.3
Haringey	60.5	6.5	9.5	18.8	4.7
Harrow	42.2	4	42.6	8.2	2.9
Havering	87.7	2.1	4.9	4.8	0.6
Hammersmith and Fulham	68.1	5.5	9.1	11.8	5.5
Hillingdon	60.6	3.8	25.3	7.3	3
Hounslow	51.4	4.1	34.4	6.6	3.6
Islington	68.2	6.5	9.2	12.8	3.4
Kensington and Chelsea	70.6	5.7	10	6.5	7.2
Kingston upon Thames	74.5	3.9	16.3	2.5	2.7
Lambeth	57.1	7.6	6.9	25.9	2.4
Lewisham	53.5	7.4	9.3	27.2	2.6
Merton	64.9	4.7	18.1	10.4	1.9
Newham	29	4.5	43.5	19.6	3.5
Redbridge	42.5	4.1	41.8	8.9	2.7
Richmond upon Thames	86	3.6	7.3	1.5	1.6
Southwark	54.3	6.2	9.4	26.9	3.3
Sutton	78.6	3.8	11.6	4.8	1.3
Tower Hamlets	45.2	4.1	41.1	7.3	2.3
Waltham Forest	52.2	5.3	21.1	17.3	4.1
Wandsworth	71.4	5	10.9	10.7	2.1
Westminster	61.7	5.2	14.5	7.5	11.1

Illustrated London Boroughs maps showing the percentage of races in each borough, according to the 2011 census

White

Asian

Black

Ethnicity

The following table shows the ethnic group of respondents in the 2011 census in Greater London.

Ethnic make-up of Greater London

Ethnic Group	1991[6]		2001[7]		2011[8]		Change 2001–2011
	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	%
White: British[Note 1]			4,287,861	59.79%	3,669,284	44.89%	14.43%
White: Irish	256,470	3.83%	220,488	3.07%	175,974	2.15%	20.19%
White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller[Note 2]					8,196	0.10%	n/a
White: Other[Note 3]			594,854	8.29%	1,033,981	12.65%	73.82%
White: Total	5,333,580	79.80%	5,103,203	71.15%	4,887,435	59.79%	4.23%
Asian or Asian British: Indian	347,091	5.19%	436,993	6.09%	542,857	6.64%	24.24%
Asian or Asian British: Pakistani	87,816	1.31%	142,749	1.99%	223,797	2.74%	56.78%
Asian or Asian British: Bangladeshi	85,738	1.28%	153,893	2.15%	222,127	2.72%	44.34%
Asian or Asian British: Chinese[Note 4]	56,579	0.84%	80,201	1.12%	124,250	1.52%	54.92%
Asian or Asian British: Other Asian	112,807	1.68%	133,058	1.86%	398,515	4.88%	199.51%
Asian or Asian British: Total	690,031	10.33%	946,894	13.20%	1,511,546	18.49%	59.63%
Black or Black British: African	163,635	2.44%	378,933	5.28%	573,931	7.02%	51.46%
Black or Black British: Caribbean	290,968	4.35%	343,567	4.79%	344,597	4.22%	0.3%
Black or Black British: Other Black	80,613	1.20%	60,349	0.84%	170,112	2.08%	181.88%
Black or Black British: Total	535,216	8.01%	782,849	10.92%	1,088,640	13.32%	39.06%
Mixed: White and Black Caribbean			70,928	0.99%	119,425	1.46%	68.38%
Mixed: White and Black African			34,182	0.48%	65,479	0.80%	91.56%
Mixed: White and Asian			59,944	0.84%	101,500	1.24%	69.33%
Mixed: Other Mixed			61,057	0.85%	118,875	1.45%	94.70%
Mixed: Total[Note 5]			226,111	3.15%	405,279	4.96%	79.24%
Other: Arab[Note 6]					106,020	1.30%	n/a
Other: Any other ethnic group			113,034	1.58%	175,021	2.14%	54.84%
Other: Total	120,872	1.81%	113,034	1.58%	281,041	3.44%	148.63%
Total	6,679,699	100.00%	7,172,091	100.00%	8,173,941	100.00%	13.97%

1. New category created for the 2001 census
2. New category created for the 2011 census
3. New category created for the 2001 census
4. In 2001, listed under the 'Other ethnic group' heading.
5. New category created for the 2001 census
6. New category created for the 2011 census

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.[9]

Distribution of ethnic groups in Greater London according to the 2011 census.

• 
  White
• 
  White-British
• 
  White-Irish
• 
  White-Other
• 
  Asian
• 
  Asian-Indian
• 
  Asian-Pakistani
• 
  Asian-Bangladeshi
• 
  Asian-Chinese
• 
  Black
• 
  Black-African
• 
  Black-Caribbean
• 
  Other-Arab

Country of birth

2011 United Kingdom Census[10]

Country of birth	Population
United Kingdom	5,175,677
India	262,247
Poland	158,300
Ireland	129,807
Nigeria	114,718
Pakistan	112,457
Bangladesh	109,948
Jamaica	87,467
Sri Lanka	84,542
France	66,654
Somalia	65,333
Kenya	64,212
United States	63,920
Ghana	62,896
Italy	62,050
Turkey	59,596
South Africa	57,765
Germany	55,476
Australia	53,959
Romania	44,848
Philippines	44,199
Cyprus	43,428
Portugal	41,041
Lithuania	39,817
China	39,452
Afghanistan	37,680
Iran	37,339
Spain	35,880
Uganda	32,136
Brazil	31,357

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.[11][12] 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.[13]

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.[14] 271,693 (3.5%) could not speak English well, while 47,917 (0.6%) could not speak English at all.[14] 2,456 (<0.1%) spoke other UK minority languages, with the most common being Welsh and 2,926 (<0.1%) used British Sign Language.[15] 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 census are shown below.[16]

Languages spoken in London

Language	Usual residents aged 3+	Proportion
English	6,083,420	77.90%
Polish	147,816	1.90%
Bengali (incl. Sylheti and Chatgaya)	114,267	1.50%
Gujarati	101,676	1.30%
French	84,191	1.10%
Urdu	78,667	1.00%
Portuguese	71,525	0.90%
Turkish	71,242	0.90%
Spanish	71,192	0.90%
Arabic	70,602	0.90%
Tamil	70,565	0.90%
Punjabi	68,525	0.90%
Somali	54,852	0.70%
Italian	49,484	0.60%
Romanian	39,653	0.50%
Persian	39,645	0.50%
Lithuanian	35,341	0.50%
German	31,306	0.40%
Greek	26,924	0.30%
Russian	26,603	0.30%
Other	441,968	5.66%

Religion

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

Religious affiliation of Londoners

Religion	2001[17]		2011[18]
	Number	%	Number	%
Christian	4,176,175	58.23%	3,957,984	48.42%
No religion	1,130,616	15.76%	1,694,372	20.73%
Muslim	607,083	8.46%	1,012,823	12.39%
Religion not stated	621,366	8.66%	692,739	8.47%
Hindu	291,977	4.07%	411,291	5.03%
Jewish	149,789	2.09%	148,602	1.82%
Sikh	104,230	1.45%	126,134	1.54%
Buddhist	54,297	0.76%	82,026	1.00%
Other religion	36,558	0.51%	47,970	0.59%
Total	7,172,091	100.00%	8,173,941	100.00%

Distribution of religions in Greater London according to the 2011 census.

• 
  Christianity
• 
  Islam
• 
  Judaism
• 
  Hinduism
• 
  Sikhism
• 
  Buddhism
• 
  Other religion
• 
  No religion

Eurostat NUTS

In the Eurostat Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS), London is a level-1 NUTS region, coded "UKI", which is subdivided as follows:

Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics designations for London

NUTS 1	Code	NUTS 2	Code	NUTS 3	Code
London	UKI	Inner London	UKI1	West Inner London (City of London, Camden, Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea, Wandsworth, Westminster)	UKI11
				East Inner London (Hackney, Haringey, Islington, Lambeth, Lewisham, Newham, Southwark, Tower Hamlets)	UKI12
		Outer London	UKI2	East and North East Outer London (Barking and Dagenham, Bexley, Enfield, Greenwich, Havering, Redbridge, Waltham Forest)	UKI21
				South Outer London (Bromley, Croydon, Kingston upon Thames, Merton, Sutton)	UKI22
				West and North West Outer London (Barnet, Brent, Ealing, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Richmond upon Thames)	UKI23

Urban and metropolitan area

At the 2001 census, the population of the Greater London Urban Area was 8,278,251.[19] This area does not include some outliers within Greater London, but does extend into the adjacent South East England and East of England regions. In 2004 the London Plan of the Mayor of London defined a metropolitan region with a population of 18 million.[20] Eurostat has developed a harmonising standard for comparing metropolitan areas in the European Union and the population of the London Larger Urban Zone is 11,917,000; it occupies an area of 8,920 square kilometres (3,440 sq mi). Another definition gives the population of the metropolitan area as 13,709,000.[21]

See also

• Demography of the United Kingdom
• Demography of England
• Demography of Birmingham
• Demography of Greater Manchester
• Religion in London
• Religion in England
• List of English cities by population
• List of English districts by population
• List of English districts and their ethnic composition
• List of English districts by area
• List of English districts by population density

References

1. "London through time: Population Statistics: Total Population". A vision of Britain through time. Great Britain Historical GIS. Retrieved 19 November 2009.
2. "Outer London through time: Population Statistics: Total Population". A vision of Britain through time. Great Britain Historical GIS. Retrieved 19 November 2009.
3. "Inner London through time: Population Statistics: Total Population". A vision of Britain through time. Great Britain Historical GIS. Retrieved 19 November 2009.
4. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 October 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
5. Estimates of the population for the UK, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
6. "1991 census – theme tables". NOMIS. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
7. "2001 census – theme tables". NOMIS. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
8. "Ethnic Group by measures". NOMIS. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
9. Benedictus, Leo (25 January 2005). "Every race, colour, nation and religion on earth". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 August 2009.
10. "Table QS213EW 2011 Census: Country of birth (expanded), regions in England and Wales". Office for National Statistics. 26 March 2013. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
11. "london.gov.uk - 2011 Census Migrant Population". london.gov.uk. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
12. "State of our Immigrant City (Annual Report 2018)" (PDF). nyc.gov. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
13. Kyambi, Sarah (7 September 2005). Beyond Black and White: Mapping New Immigrant Communities. London: Institute for Public Policy Research. ISBN 1-86030-284-X.
14. "Proficiency in English, 2011 (QS205EW)". Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 17 April 2013.
15. "Main Language (detailed), 2011 (QS204EW)". Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 17 April 2013.
16. "Download:local authorities: county / unitary". NOMIS. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
17. "2001 census – theme tables". Retrieved 5 September 2014.
18. "Religion by measures". NOMIS. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
19. "KS01 Usual resident population: Census 2001, Key Statistics for urban areas". Office for National Statistics. Archived from the original on 11 March 2005.
20. Mayor of London. "The London Plan". Greater London Authority.
21. "British urban pattern: population data" (PDF). ESPON project 1.4.3 Study on Urban Functions. European Spatial Planning Observation Network. March 2007. p. 119. Archived from the original (pdf) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 22 February 2010.