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London — UN urban centre

10,416,420

London: 10,416,420 people. Reference: 2025 annual estimate · World rank #33 of 12,138 source urban centres. Source: UN DESA, World Urbanization Prospects 2025 (CC BY 3.0 IGO). Source identifier: 5938; territory: United Kingdom (GBR). UN source workbook.

Method: Degree of Urbanisation (contiguous 1 km2 cells, density 1,500+ people/km2, total 50,000+). This is a source-defined urban centre, not a municipality or province. No association with a separate administrative entity is inferred from proximity or name.

Source centroid: 51.5089, -0.127. National context uses World Bank estimates, a separate series and geography; no national share is inferred here.

UN population series

YearPeopleMethod
19757,369,842Estimate
19807,026,099Estimate
19857,030,290Estimate
19907,140,652Estimate
19957,388,279Estimate
20007,654,553Estimate
20057,947,720Estimate
20108,597,262Estimate
20159,274,623Estimate
20209,991,400Estimate
202510,416,420Estimate
203010,766,831Projection
203511,048,048Projection
204011,387,886Projection
204511,670,188Projection
205011,868,905Projection

Largest UN urban centres · Fastest-growing urban centres

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This page is a structured reference entry. Its sources, geographic definition and reference dates determine what the figures mean; it is not independent reporting about the causes of change. Read the accompanying explanation before comparing different places or vintages.

Why an urban centre is not a municipality →

Interpretation reviewed 12 October 2026. Underlying reference years are stated on the page; this is not a fresh census or dataset refresh.