Capital and largest city of the United Kingdom
This article is about the capital city of England and the United Kingdom. For other uses, see
London (disambiguation) .
Capital city in England
London
Location within the United Kingdom
Show map of the United Kingdom Location within Europe
Show map of Europe Coordinates: 51°30′26″N 0°7′39″W / 51.50722°N 0.12750°W / 51.50722; -0.12750 Sovereign state United Kingdom Country England Region London Ceremonial counties Settled by Romans AD 47; 1977 years ago (47 ) , as Londinium [1] Administrative HQ City Hall, Newham Local government 32 London boroughs and the City of London • Type Executive mayoralty and deliberative assembly • Body Greater London Authority • Mayor Sadiq Khan (L ) • London Assembly 14 constituencies • UK Parliament 73 constituencies • Total[a] 607 sq mi (1,572 km2 ) • Urban
671 sq mi (1,738 km2 ) • Metro
3,236 sq mi (8,382 km2 ) • Total[a] 8,866,180 • Rank • Density 14,600/sq mi (5,640/km2 ) • Urban 9,787,426 • Metro 14,900,000 Demonyms Londoner • Total £ 562.2 billion • Per capita £63,407 Time zone UTC+0 (GMT ) • Summer (DST ) UTC+1 (BST )Postcode areas
E , EC , N , NW , SE , SW , W , WC , BR ,
CM ,
CR , DA , EN , HA , IG , KT , RM , SM ,UB , WD ,
TN , TW
Dialling codes GSS code E12000007 GeoTLD .london Website london .gov .uk
London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of around 8.8 million,[6] and its metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe , with a population of 14.9 million.[7] [c] It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a 50-mile (80 km) estuary down to the North Sea and has been a major settlement for nearly two millennia.[8] The City of London , its ancient core and financial centre , was founded by the Romans as Londinium and retains its medieval boundaries.[d] [9] The City of Westminster , to the west of the City of London, has for centuries hosted the national government and parliament . In the 19th century , London grew rapidly, becoming the world's largest city at the time , as it expanded and absorbed the surrounding county of Middlesex , and parts of Surrey and Kent . In 1965 it was combined with parts of Essex and Hertfordshire [10] to create the administrative area of Greater London ,[11] which is governed by 33 local authorities and the Greater London Authority .[e] [12]
As one of the world's major global cities ,[13] [14] London exerts a strong influence on world art , entertainment, fashion , commerce and finance, education , health care , media , science and technology, tourism , transport , and communications.[15] [16] Despite a post-Brexit exodus of stock listings from the London Stock Exchange ,[17] London is still Europe's most economically powerful city,[18] and it remains one of the major financial centres in the world . With Europe's largest concentration of higher education institutions ,[19] it is home to some of the highest-ranked academic institutions in the world—Imperial College London in natural and applied sciences , the London School of Economics in social sciences , and the comprehensive University College London .[20] [21] London is the most visited city in Europe and has the busiest city airport system in the world.[22] The London Underground is the oldest rapid transit system in the world.[23]
London's diverse cultures encompass over 300 languages.[24] The 2023 population of Greater London of just under 10 million[25] made it Europe's third-most populous city ,[26] accounting for 13.4% of the population of the United Kingdom[27] and over 16% of the population of England. The Greater London Built-up Area is the fourth-most populous in Europe, with about 9.8 million inhabitants at the 2011 census.[28] [29] The London metropolitan area is the third-most populous in Europe, with about 14 million inhabitants in 2016,[f] [30] [31] granting London the status of a megacity .
London has four World Heritage Sites : the Tower of London ; Kew Gardens ; the combined Palace of Westminster , Westminster Abbey , and St Margaret's Church ; and the historic settlement in Greenwich , where the Royal Observatory, Greenwich , defines the prime meridian (0° longitude ) and Greenwich Mean Time .[32] Other landmarks include Buckingham Palace , the London Eye , Piccadilly Circus , St Paul's Cathedral , Tower Bridge , and Trafalgar Square . London has many museums , galleries, libraries, and cultural venues, including the British Museum , National Gallery , Natural History Museum , Tate Modern , British Library , and numerous West End theatres.[33] Important sporting events held in London include the FA Cup Final , the Wimbledon Tennis Championships , and the London Marathon . In 2012 , London became the first city to host three Summer Olympic Games .[34]
^ Number 1 Poultry (ONE 94), Museum of London Archaeology, 2013 . Archaeology Data Service, The University of York.
^ a b "Estimates of the population for the UK, England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland" . Office for National Statistics . 26 March 2024. Retrieved 9 April 2024 .
^ "2011 Census – Built-up areas" . ONS . Retrieved 15 October 2022 .
^ "Major agglomerations of the world" . City Population . Retrieved 20 April 2023 .
^ "Regional gross domestic product: all ITL regions" . Office for National Statistics . 24 April 2024. Retrieved 15 May 2024 .
^ "Population and household estimates, England and Wales: Census 2021" . ons.gov.uk . Office for National Statistics . Retrieved 15 October 2022 .
^ "Major Agglomerations" . Retrieved 16 October 2023 .
^ "Roman London" . Museum of London . n.d. Archived from the original on 22 March 2008.
^ Fowler, Joshua (5 July 2013). "London Government Act: Essex, Kent, Surrey and Middlesex 50 years on" . BBC News .
^ "The baffling map of England's counties" . BBC News . 25 April 2014. Retrieved 25 September 2021 .
^ "The baffling map of England's counties" . BBC News . 25 April 2014. Retrieved 25 September 2021 .
^ Jones, Bill; Kavanagh, Dennis; Moran, Michael; Norton, Philip (2007). Politics UK . Harlow: Pearson Education. p. 868. ISBN 978-1-4058-2411-8 .
^ "Global Power City Index 2020" . Institute for Urban Strategies – The Mori Memorial Foundation. Retrieved 25 March 2021 . ; Adewunmi, Bim (10 March 2013). "London: The Everything Capital of the World" . The Guardian . London. ; "What's The Capital of the World?" . More Intelligent Life. Archived from the original on 22 September 2013. Retrieved 4 July 2013 .
^ "These are the world's top cities. Which one ranked highest for the 10th year running?" . World Economic Forum . 23 February 2022. Retrieved 12 April 2024 .
^ "Leading 200 science cities" . Nature. Retrieved 10 June 2022 .
^ "The World's Most Influential Cities 2014" . Forbes . 14 August 2014. Retrieved 25 March 2021 . ; Dearden, Lizzie (8 October 2014). "London is 'the most desirable city in the world to work in', study finds" . The Independent . London. Retrieved 25 March 2021 .
^ Cite error: The named reference LSEExodus
was invoked but never defined (see the help page ).
^ "London is Europe's leading economic powerhouse, says new report" . London.gov.uk. Retrieved 5 January 2024 .
^ "Number of international students in London continues to grow" (Press release). Greater London Authority. 20 August 2008. Archived from the original on 24 November 2010.
^ "Times Higher Education World University Rankings" . 19 September 2018. ; "Top Universities: Imperial College London" . ; "Top Universities: LSE" . Retrieved 21 September 2019 .
^ "QS World University Rankings 2022" . Top Universities . Retrieved 19 September 2022 .
^ "Revealed: The most crowded skies on the planet" . The Telegraph . Retrieved 2 December 2023 . London: Our capital's collective airport system is the busiest in the whole world. A total of 170,980,680 passengers.
^ "London Underground" . Transport for London . Retrieved 6 May 2022 .
^ "Languages spoken in the UK population" . National Centre for Language. 16 June 2008. Archived from the original on 24 September 2008."CILT, the National Centre for Languages" . Archived from the original on 13 February 2005. Retrieved 16 August 2007 .
^ "London, UK Metro Area Population 1950-2023" . Macrotrends . Retrieved 24 October 2023 .
^ "Largest EU City. Over 7 million residents in 2001" . Office for National Statistics. Archived from the original on 8 January 2009. Retrieved 28 June 2008 .
^ "Focus on London – Population and Migration | London DataStore" . Greater London Authority. Archived from the original on 16 October 2010. Retrieved 10 February 2012 .
^ "Demographia World Urban Areas, 15th Annual Edition" (PDF) . Demographia . April 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 February 2020. Retrieved 13 February 2016 .
^ "2011 Census – Built-up areas" . nomisweb.co.uk . ONS . 28 June 2013. Retrieved 29 March 2021 .
^ "Metropolitan Area Populations" . Eurostat. 18 June 2019. Retrieved 4 December 2019 .
^ "The London Plan (March 2015)" . Greater London Authority. 15 October 2015. Archived from the original on 22 December 2016. Retrieved 24 March 2021 .
^ "Lists: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland – Properties inscribed on the World Heritage List" . UNESCO World Heritage Centre . Retrieved 26 November 2008 .
^ Blackman, Bob (25 January 2008). "West End Must Innovate to Renovate, Says Report" . What's on Stage . London. Archived from the original on 30 April 2011. Retrieved 15 November 2010 .
^ "IOC elects London as the Host City of the Games of the XXX Olympiad in 2012" (Press release). International Olympic Committee . 6 July 2005. Archived from the original on 17 October 2011. Retrieved 3 June 2006 .
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