London comprises the City of London, and the 32 boroughs, of which 13 are in Inner London and 19 are in Outer London. It is a growing city spreading out and 'swallowing' many villages and towns in the south east of England. Because of this, there are many conflicting definitions of London and Greater London and the population of London varies accordingly.

London, the capital of England and the UK, occupies over 620 square miles and is the most populous city in the European Union, with over 7 million residents. London’s population is heavily concentrated (at about 4,539 people per sq km/11,568 per sq mi)

2001 Census

London's population was 7,172,000 on the latest Census Day of April 2001. This is 14.6 per cent of the total population of Britain. The population in 2005 was thought to have been about 7,518,000.

The population of London peaked in 1951 when the census of that year recorded about 8,346,000.

Almost one third (32 per cent) of Londoners were born outside the UK – around 2.3m Londoners.

The age structure of people living in London is not typical of England as a whole. There is a greater proportion of people aged between 20 and 44 in both Inner London (48 per cent) and Outer London (39 per cent) than for England (35 per cent).

Find out more about the population in the UK