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Natural history |
The London Natural History Society suggests that London is "one of the World's Greenest Cities" with more than 40 per cent green space or open water. They indicate that 2000 species of flowering plant have been found growing there and that the tidal Thames supports 120 species of fish. They state that over 60 species of bird nest in central London and that their members have recorded 47 species of butterfly, 1173 moths and more than 270 kinds of spider around London. London's wetland areas support nationally important populations of many water birds. London has 38 Sites of Special Scientific Interest, two national nature reserves and 76 local nature reserves. |
Amphibians are common in the capital, including smooth newts living by the Tate Modern, and common frogs, common toads, palmate newts and great crested newts. On the other hand, native reptiles such as slowworms, common lizards, barred grass snakes and adders, are mostly only seen in Outer London. |
Among other inhabitants of London are 10,000 red foxes, so that there are now 16 foxes for every square mile of London. Other mammals found in Greater London are hedgehog, brown rat, mice, rabbit, shrew, vole, and grey squirrel. In wilder areas of Outer London, such as Epping Forest, a wide variety of mammals are found, including European hare, badger, field, bank and water vole, wood mouse, yellow-necked mouse, mole, shrew, and weasel, in addition to red fox, grey squirrel and hedgehog. A dead otter was found at The Highway, in Wapping, about a mile from the Tower Bridge, which would suggest that they have begun to move back after being absent a hundred years from the city. Ten of England's eighteen species of bats have been recorded in Epping Forest: soprano, Nathusius' and common pipistrelles, common noctule, serotine, barbastelle, Daubenton's, brown long-eared, Natterer's and Leisler's. |
Herds of red and fallow deer roam freely within much of Richmond and Bushy Park. A cull takes place each November and February to ensure numbers can be sustained. Epping Forest is also known for its fallow deer, which can frequently be seen in herds to the north of the Forest. A rare population of melanistic, black fallow deer is also maintained at the Deer Sanctuary near Theydon Bois. Muntjac deer are also found in the forest. While Londoners are accustomed to wildlife such as birds and foxes sharing the city, more recently urban deer have started becoming a regular feature, and whole herds of fallow deer come into residential areas at night to take advantage of London's green spaces. |
Demography |
London's continuous urban area extends beyond Greater London and numbered 9,787,426 people in 2011, while its wider metropolitan area had a population of 12–14 million, depending on the definition used. According to Eurostat, London is the second most populous metropolitan area in Europe. A net 726,000 immigrants arrived there in the period 1991–2001. |
The region covers 610 square miles, giving a population density of 13,410 inhabitants per square mile more than ten times that of any other British region. In population terms, London is the 19th largest city and the 18th largest metropolitan region. |
In tenure, 23.1% socially rent within London, 46.8% either own their house outright or with a mortgage or loan and 30% privately rent at the 2021 census. Many Londoner's work from home, 42.9% did so at the 2021 census while 20.6% drive a car to work. The biggest decrease in method of transportation was seen within those who take the train and underground, declining from 22.6% in 2011 to 9.6% in 2021. In qualifications, 46.7% of London had census classified Level 4 qualifications or higher, which is predominately university degrees. 16.2% had no qualifications at all. |
Age structure and median age |
London's median age is one of the youngest regions in the UK. It was recorded in 2018 that London's residents were 36.5 years old, which was younger than the UK median of 40.3. |
Children younger than 14 constituted 20.6% of the population in Outer London in 2018, and 18% in Inner London. The 15–24 age group was 11.1% in Outer and 10.2% in Inner London, those aged 25–44 years 30.6% in Outer London and 39.7% in Inner London, those aged 45–64 years 24% and 20.7% in Outer and Inner London respectively. Those aged 65 and over are 13.6% in Outer London, but only 9.3% in Inner London. |
Country of birth |
The 2021 census recorded that 3,575,739 people or 40.6% of London's population were foreign-born, making it among the cities with the largest immigrant population in terms of absolute numbers and a growth of roughly 3 million since 1971 when the foreign born population was 668,373. 13% of the total population were Asian born (32.1% of the total foreign born population), 7.1% are African born (17.5%), 15.5% are Other European born (38.2%) and 4.2% were born in the Americas and Caribbean (10.3%). The 5 largest single country of origin's were respectively India, Romania, Poland, Bangladesh and Pakistan. |
About 56.8% of children born in London in 2021 were born to a mother who was born abroad. This trend has been increasing in the past two decades when foreign born mothers made up 43.3% of births in 2001 in London, becoming the majority in the middle of the 2000s by 2006 comprising 52.5%. |
A large degree of the foreign born population who were present at the 2021 census had arrived relatively recently. Of the total population, those that arrived between the years of 2011 and 2021 account for 16.6% of London. Those who arrived between 2001 and 2010 are 10.4%, between 1991 and 2001, 5.7%, and prior to 1990, 7.3%. |
Ethnic groups |
Maps of Greater London showing percentage distribution of selected ethnic groups according to the 2021 Census White White (53.8%) Asian Asian (20.8%) Black Black (13.5%) According to the Office for National Statistics, based on the 2021 census, 53.8 per cent of the 8,173,941 inhabitants of London were White, with 36.8% White British, 1.8% White Irish, 0.1% Gypsy/Irish Traveller, 0.4 Roma and 14.7% classified as Other White. Meanwhile, 22.2% of Londoners were of Asian or mixed-Asian descent, with 20.8% being of full Asian descents and 1.4% being of mixed-Asian heritage. Indians accounted for 7.5% of the population, followed by Pakistanis and Bangladeshis at 3.3% and 3.7% respectively. Chinese people accounted for 1.7%, and Arabs for 1.6%. A further 4.6% were classified as "Other Asian". 15.9% of London's population were of Black or mixed-Black descent. 13.5% were of full Black descent, with persons of mixed-Black heritage comprising 2.4%. Black Africans accounted for 7.9% of London's population; 3.9% identified as Black Caribbean, and 1.7% as "Other Black". 5.7% were of mixed race. This ethnic structure has changed considerably since the 1960s. Estimates for 1961 put the total non-White ethnic minority population at 179,109 comprising 2.3% of the population at the time, having risen since then to 1,346,119 and 20.2% in 1991 and 4,068,553 and 46.2% in 2021. Of those of a White British background, estimates for 1971 put the population at 6,500,000 and 87% of the total population, of since fell to 3,239,281 and 36.8% in 2021. |
As of 2021, the majority of London's school pupils come from ethnic minority backgrounds. 23.9% were White British, 14% Other White, 23.2% Asian, 17.9% Black, 11.3% Mixed, |
6.3% Other and 2.3% unclassified. Altogether at the 2021 census, of London's 1,695,741 population aged 0 to 15, 42% were White in total, splitting it down into 30.9% who were White British, 0.5% Irish, 10.6% Other White, 23% Asian, 16.4% Black, 12% Mixed and 6.6% another ethnic group. |
Languages |
In January 2005, a survey of London's ethnic and religious diversity claimed that more than 300 languages were spoken in London and more than 50 non-indigenous communities had populations of more than 10,000. At the 2021 census, 78.4% spoke English as their first language. The 5 biggest languages outside of English were Romanian, Spanish, Polish, Bengali and Portuguese. |
Religion |
Christianity (40.66%) Not religious (27.05%) Islam (14.99%) Undeclared (7.00%) Hinduism (5.15%) Judaism (1.65%) Sikhism (1.64%) Buddhism (0.99%) Other religion (0.88%) According to the 2021 Census, the largest religious groupings were Christians (40.66%), followed by those of no religion (20.7%), Muslims (15%), no response (8.5%), Hindus (5.15%), Jews (1.65%), Sikhs (1.64%), Buddhists (1.0%) and other (0.8%). |
London has traditionally been Christian, and has a large number of churches, particularly in the City of London. The well-known St Paul's Cathedral in the City and Southwark Cathedral south of the river are Anglican administrative centres, while the Archbishop of Canterbury, principal bishop of the Church of England and worldwide Anglican Communion, has his main residence at Lambeth Palace in the London Borough of Lambeth. |
The BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir London is the second-largest Hindu temple in England and Europe. Important national and royal ceremonies are shared between St Paul's and Westminster Abbey. The Abbey is not to be confused with nearby Westminster Cathedral, the largest Roman Catholic cathedral in England and Wales. Despite the prevalence of Anglican churches, observance is low within the denomination. Anglican Church attendance continues a long, steady decline, according to Church of England statistics. |
Notable mosques include the East London Mosque in Tower Hamlets, which is allowed to give the Islamic call to prayer through loudspeakers, the London Central Mosque on the edge of Regent's Park and the Baitul Futuh of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. After the oil boom, increasing numbers of wealthy Middle-Eastern Arab Muslims based themselves around Mayfair, Kensington and Knightsbridge in West London. There are large Bengali Muslim communities in the eastern boroughs of Tower Hamlets and Newham. |
Large Hindu communities are found in the north-western boroughs of Harrow and Brent, the latter hosting what was until 2006 Europe's largest Hindu temple, Neasden Temple. London is home to 44 Hindu temples, including the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir London. There are Sikh communities in East and West London, particularly in Southall, home to one of the largest Sikh populations and the largest Sikh temple outside India. |
The majority of British Jews live in London, with notable Jewish communities in Stamford Hill, Stanmore, Golders Green, Finchley, Hampstead, Hendon and Edgware, all in North London. Bevis Marks Synagogue in the City of London is affiliated to London's historic Sephardic Jewish community. It is the only synagogue in Europe to have held regular services continually for over 300 years. Stanmore and Canons Park Synagogue has the largest membership of any Orthodox synagogue in Europe. The London Jewish Forum was set up in 2006 in response to the growing significance of devolved London Government. |
Accents |
Traditionally, anyone born within earshot of the bells of St Mary-le-Bow church was considered to be a true Cockney. Cockney is an accent heard across London, mainly spoken by working-class and lower-middle class Londoners. It is mainly attributed to the East End and wider East London, having originated there in the 18th century, although it has been suggested that the Cockney style of speech is much older. Some features of Cockney include, Th-fronting (pronouncing "th" as "f"), "th" inside a word is pronounced with a "v", H-dropping, and, like most English accents, a Cockney accent drops the "r" after a vowel. John Camden Hotten, in his Slang Dictionary of 1859, makes reference to Cockney "use of a peculiar slang language" (Cockney rhyming slang) when describing the costermongers of the East End. Since the start of the 21st century the extreme form of the Cockney dialect is less common in parts of the East End itself, with modern strongholds including other parts of London and suburbs in the home counties. This is particularly pronounced in areas like Romford (in the London Borough of Havering) and Southend (in Essex) which have received significant inflows of older East End residents in recent decades. |
Estuary English is an intermediate accent between Cockney and Received Pronunciation. It is widely spoken by people of all classes. |
Multicultural London English (MLE) is a multiethnolect becoming increasingly common in multicultural areas amongst young, working-class people from diverse backgrounds. It is a fusion of an array of ethnic accents, in particular Afro-Caribbean and South Asian, with a significant Cockney influence. |
Received Pronunciation (RP) is the accent traditionally regarded as the standard for British English. It has no specific geographical correlate, although it is also traditionally defined as the standard speech used in London and south-eastern England. It is mainly spoken by upper-class and upper-middle class Londoners. |
Economy |
The City of London, one of the largest financial centres in the world |
London's gross regional product in 2019 was £503 billion, around a quarter of UK GDP. London has five major business districts: the city, Westminster, Canary Wharf, Camden & Islington and Lambeth & Southwark. One way to get an idea of their relative importance is to look at relative amounts of office space: Greater London had 27 million m2 of office space in 2001, and the City contains the most space, with 8 million m2 of office space. London has some of the highest real estate prices in the world. |
London's finance industry is based in the City of London and Canary Wharf, the two major business districts. London is one of the pre-eminent financial centres of the world as the most important location for international finance. London took over as a major financial centre shortly after 1795 when the Dutch Republic collapsed before the Napoleonic armies. This caused many bankers established in Amsterdam (e.g. Hope, Baring), to move to London. Also, London's market-centred system (as opposed to the bank-centred one in Amsterdam) grew more dominant in the 18th century. The London financial elite was strengthened by a strong Jewish community from all over Europe capable of mastering the most sophisticated financial tools of the time. This economic strength of the city was attributed to its diversity. |
The Bank of England, established in 1694, is the model on which most modern central banks are based. By the mid-19th century, London was the leading financial centre, and at the end of the century over half the world's trade was financed in British currency. Still, as of 2016 London tops the world rankings on the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI), and it ranked second in A.T. Kearney's 2018 Global Cities Index. |
London's largest industry is finance, and its financial exports make it a large contributor to the UK's balance of payments. Notwithstanding a post-Brexit exodus of stock listings from the London Stock Exchange, London is still one of Europe's most economically powerful cities, and it remains one of the major financial centres of the world. It is the world's biggest currency trading centre, accounting for some 37 per cent of the $5.1 trillion average daily volume, according to the BIS. Over 85 per cent (3.2 million) of the employed population of greater London works in the services industries. Because of its prominent global role, London's economy had been affected by the financial crisis of 2007–2008. However, by 2010 the city had recovered, put in place new regulatory powers, proceeded to regain lost ground and re-established London's economic dominance. Along with professional services headquarters, the City of London is home to the Bank of England, London Stock Exchange, and Lloyd's of London insurance market. |
Over half the UK's top 100 listed companies (the FTSE 100) and over 100 of Europe's 500 largest companies have their headquarters in central London. Over 70 per cent of the FTSE 100 are within London's metropolitan area, and 75 per cent of Fortune 500 companies have offices in London. In a 1992 report commissioned by the London Stock Exchange, Sir Adrian Cadbury, chairman of his family's confectionery company Cadbury, produced the Cadbury Report, a code of best practice which served as a basis for reform of corporate governance around the world. |
Media and technology |
Media companies are concentrated in London, and the media distribution industry is London's second most |
competitive sector. The BBC, the world's oldest national broadcaster, is a significant employer, while other broadcasters, including ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, and Sky, also have headquarters around the city. Many national newspapers, including The Times, founded in 1785, are edited in London; the term Fleet Street (where most national newspapers operated) remains a metonym for the British national press. The communications company WPP is the world's largest advertising agency. |
A large number of technology companies are based in London, notably in East London Tech City, also known as Silicon Roundabout. In 2014 the city was among the first to receive a geoTLD. In February 2014 London was ranked as the European City of the Future in the 2014/15 list by fDi Intelligence. A museum in Bletchley Park, where Alan Turing was based during World War II, is in Bletchley, 40 miles (64 km) north of central London, as is The National Museum of Computing. |
The gas and electricity distribution networks that manage and operate the towers, cables and pressure systems that deliver energy to consumers across the city are managed by National Grid plc, SGN and UK Power Networks. |
Tourism |
London is one of the leading tourist destinations in the world and in 2015 was ranked as the most visited city in the world with over 65 million visits. It is also the top city in the world by visitor cross-border spending, estimated at US$20.23 billion in . Tourism is one of London's prime industries, employing 700,000 full-time workers in 2016, and contributes £36 billion a year to the economy. The city accounts for 54% of all inbound visitor spending in the UK. As of 2016 London was the world top city destination as ranked by TripAdvisor users. |
In 2015 the top most-visited attractions in the UK were all in London. The top 10 most visited attractions were (with visits per venue): |
British Museum: 6,820,686 |
National Gallery: 5,908,254 |
Natural History Museum (South Kensington): 5,284,023 |
Southbank Centre: 5,102,883 |
Tate Modern: 4,712,581 |
Victoria and Albert Museum (South Kensington): 3,432,325 |
Science Museum: 3,356,212 |
Somerset House: 3,235,104 |
Tower of London: 2,785,249 |
National Portrait Gallery: 2,145,486 |
The number of hotel rooms in London in stood at 155,700 and is expected to grow to 183,600 rooms, the most of any city outside China. Luxury hotels in London include the Savoy (opened in 1889), Claridge's (opened in 1812 and rebuilt in 1898), the Ritz (opened in 1906) and the Dorchester (opened in 1931), while budget hotel chains include Premier Inn and Travelodge. |
Transport |
Transport is one of the four main areas of policy administered by the Mayor of London, but the mayor's financial control does not extend to the longer-distance rail network that enters London. In 2007 the Mayor of London assumed responsibility for some local lines, which now form the London Overground network, adding to the existing responsibility for the London Underground, trams and buses. The public transport network is administered by Transport for London (TfL). |
The lines that formed the London Underground, as well as trams and buses, became part of an integrated transport system in 1933 when the London Passenger Transport Board or London Transport was created. Transport for London is now the statutory corporation responsible for most aspects of the transport system in Greater London, and is run by a board and a commissioner appointed by the Mayor of London. |
Aviation |
Heathrow Airport is the busiest airport in Europe as well as the second busiest in the world for international passenger traffic (Terminal 5C is pictured). |
London is a major international air transport hub with the busiest city airspace in the world. Eight airports use the word London in their name, but most traffic passes through six of these. Additionally, various other airports also serve London, catering primarily to general aviation flights. |
Heathrow Airport, in Hillingdon, West London, was for many years the busiest airport in the world for international traffic, and is the major hub of the nation's flag carrier, British Airways. In March 2008 its fifth terminal was opened. |
Gatwick Airport, south of London in West Sussex, handles flights to more destinations than any other UK airport and is the main base of easyJet, the UK's largest airline by number of passengers. |
London Stansted Airport, north-east of London in Essex, has flights that serve the greatest number of European destinations of any UK airport and is the main base of Ryanair, the world's largest international airline by number of international passengers. |
Luton Airport, to the north of London in Bedfordshire, is used by several budget airlines (especially easyJet and Wizz Air) for short-haul flights. |
London City Airport, the most central airport and the one with the shortest runway, in Newham, East London, is focused on business travellers, with a mixture of full-service short-haul scheduled flights and considerable business jet traffic. |
London Southend Airport, east of London in Essex, is a smaller, regional airport that caters for short-haul flights on a limited, though growing, number of airlines. In international passengers made up over 95% of the total at Southend, the highest proportion of any London airport. |
Rail |
The London Underground is the world's oldest and third-longest rapid transit system. |
Opened in 1863, the London Underground, commonly referred to as the Tube or just the Underground, is the oldest and third longest metro system in the world. The system serves 272 stations, and was formed from several private companies, including the world's first underground electric line, the City and South London Railway, which opened in 1890. |
Over four million journeys are made every day on the Underground network, over 1 billion |
each year. An investment programme is attempting to reduce congestion and improve reliability, including £6.5 billion (€7.7 billion) spent before the 2012 Summer Olympics. The Docklands Light Railway (DLR), which opened in 1987, is a second, more local metro system using smaller and lighter tram-type vehicles that serve the Docklands, Greenwich and Lewisham. |
Suburban |
There are 368 railway stations in the London Travelcard Zones on an extensive above-ground suburban railway network. South London, particularly, has a high concentration of railways as it has fewer Underground lines. Most rail lines terminate around the centre of London, running into eighteen terminal stations, with the exception of the Thameslink trains connecting Bedford in the north and Brighton in the south via Luton and Gatwick airports. London has Britain's busiest station by number of passengers—Waterloo, with over 184 million people using the interchange station complex (which includes Waterloo East station) each year. Clapham Junction is one of Europe's busiest rail interchanges. |
With the need for more rail capacity, the Elizabeth Line (also known as Crossrail) opened in May 2022. It is a new railway line running east to west through London and into the Home Counties with a branch to Heathrow Airport. It was Europe's biggest construction project, with a £15 billion projected cost. |
Inter-city and international |
St Pancras International is the main terminal for high-speed Eurostar and High Speed services, as well as commuter suburban Thameslink and inter-city East Midlands Railway services. |
London is the centre of the National Rail network, with 70 per cent of rail journeys starting or ending in London. King's Cross station and Euston station, both in London, are the starting points of the East Coast Main Line and the West Coast Main Line – the two main railway lines in Britain. Like suburban rail services, regional and inter-city trains depart from several termini around the city centre, directly linking London with most of Great Britain's major cities and towns. The Flying Scotsman is an express passenger train service that has operated between London and Edinburgh since 1862; the world famous steam locomotive named after this service, Flying Scotsman, was the first locomotive to reach the officially authenticated speed of 100 miles per hour (161 km/h) in 1934. |
Some international railway services to Continental Europe were operated during the 20th century as boat trains. The opening of the Channel Tunnel in 1994 connected London directly to the continental rail network, allowing Eurostar services to begin. Since 2007, high-speed trains link St. Pancras International with Lille, Calais, Paris, Disneyland Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and other European tourist destinations via the High Speed 1 rail link and the Channel Tunnel. The first high-speed domestic trains started in June 2009 linking Kent to London. There are plans for a second high speed line linking London to the Midlands, North West England, and Yorkshire. |