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 • Ethnic groups • Religion 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 (region) E61000001 (GLA) GeoTLD .london Website london .gov .uk
London ( LUN -dən )[ 6] is the capital and largest city [ c] of both England and the United Kingdom , with a population of 8,866,180 in 2022.[ 2] The wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe , with a population of 14.9 million.[ 7] London stands on the River Thames in southeast England, at the head of a 50-mile (80 km) estuary down to the North Sea , and has been a major settlement for nearly 2,000 years.[ 8] Its ancient core and financial centre , the City of London , was founded by the Romans as Londinium and has retained its medieval boundaries.[ d] [ 9] The City of Westminster , to the west of the City of London, has been the centuries-long host of the national government and parliament . London grew rapidly in the 19th century , becoming the world's largest city at the time . Since the 19th century,[ 10] [ 11] the name "London" has referred to the metropolis around the City of London, historically split between the counties of Middlesex , Essex , Surrey , Kent , and Hertfordshire ,[ 12] which since 1965 has largely comprised the administrative area of Greater London , governed by 33 local authorities and the Greater London Authority .[ e] [ 13]
As one of the world's major global cities ,[ 14] [ 15] London exerts a strong influence on world art , entertainment, fashion , commerce, finance, education , healthcare , media , science, technology, tourism , transport , and communications.[ 16] [ 17] Despite a post-Brexit exodus of stock listings from the London Stock Exchange ,[ 18] [ 19] London remains Europe's most economically powerful city[ 20] and one of the world's major financial centres . It hosts Europe's largest concentration of higher education institutions ,[ 21] some of which are 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 .[ 22] [ 23] It is the most visited city in Europe and has the world's busiest city airport system .[ 24] The London Underground is the world's oldest rapid transit system.[ 25]
London's diverse cultures encompass over 300 languages.[ 26] The 2023 population of Greater London of just under 10 million[ 27] made it Europe's third-most populous city ,[ 28] accounting for 13.4% of the United Kingdom's population[ 29] and over 16% of England's population. The Greater London Built-up Area is the fourth-most populous in Europe, with about 9.8 million inhabitants as of 2011.[ 30] [ 31] The London metropolitan area is the third-most populous in Europe, with about 14 million inhabitants as of 2016, making London a megacity .[ f] [ 32] [ 33]
Four World Heritage Sites are located in London: Kew Gardens ; the Tower of London ; the site featuring the Palace of Westminster , Church of St Margaret , and Westminster Abbey ; and the historic settlement in Greenwich where the Royal Observatory defines the prime meridian (0° longitude ) and Greenwich Mean Time .[ 34] Other landmarks include Buckingham Palace , the London Eye , Piccadilly Circus , St Paul's Cathedral , Tower Bridge , and Trafalgar Square . The city has the most museums , art galleries, libraries, and cultural venues in the UK, including the British Museum , National Gallery , Natural History Museum , Tate Modern , British Library , and numerous West End theatres.[ 35] Important sporting events held in London include the FA Cup Final , the Wimbledon Tennis Championships , and the London Marathon . It became the first city to host three Summer Olympic Games upon hosting the 2012 Summer Olympics .[ 36]
^ Number 1 Poultry (ONE 94), Museum of London Archaeology, 2013 . Archaeology Data Service, The University of York.
^ a b c "Mid-Year Population Estimates, UK, June 2022" . Office for National Statistics . 26 March 2024. Retrieved 3 May 2024 .
^ "2011 Census – Built-up areas" . ONS . Retrieved 15 October 2022 .
^ "Major agglomerations of the world" . City Population . Retrieved 20 April 2023 .
^ a b UK Census (2021). "2021 Census Area Profile – London Region (E12000007)" . Nomis . Office for National Statistics . Retrieved 23 July 2024 .
^ "London | English meaning" . Cambridge Free English Dictionary and Thesaurus .
^ "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 .
^ Mills, AD (2010). Dictionary of London Place Names . Oxford University Press . p. 152 .
^ Chambers, W., The Postman's Knock , Chambers's Edinburgh Journal (1857)
^ "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 .
^ Daniel O'Boyle (6 June 2024). "Shein has ethical concerns? So do many London-listed companies — let's look at them too" . London Evening Standard . Retrieved 17 August 2024 . The post-Brexit London Stock Exchange has struggled to properly articulate what it offers over New York .
^ 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" (Press release). Greater London Authority. 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 . London. 27 July 2018. 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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