London's Population

Introduction

The 2022 mid-year estimate (MYE) is the current official estimate of the population for local authorities in England and Wales. Estimates are produced annually by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the 2022 MYE was published on 23 November 2023.

Comparison to previous MYE data

The previous MYE series (for the period 2012-2020) starts with the 2011 census estimate. Each subsequent year’s population is calculated by adding estimates of births, deaths and migration to the previous year’s population. The 2021 MYE represents a break in this series as it uses the 2021 census as its base.

The ONS revised the 2012-2020 MYE series in late 2023 to bring it in line with the 2021 MYE, so that comparisons could be made between between this series and the previous series. The values plotted on the chart are the revised values.

Key Points

• London’s mid-2022 population was 8.866 million
• London’s population fell by 61,400 persons compared to the previous mid-year value
• Components of change were as follows:
• 109,500 births and 52,000 deaths (natural change of 57,500)
• Net domestic migration was an outflow of 125,800
• Net international migration was an inflow of 130,200

Population Change

London’s 2022 population was 8,866,180. The first chart below shows the 2022 MYE in the context of previous estimates. There is an uptick after a temporary decrease in population which we attribute to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Components of Change

Births, deaths and migration form the components of population change.

The 2022 MYE values for births and deaths were similar to those in 2021.

At -126,000, the value for domestic migration (migration within the UK) had returned to close to the 2020 value (-114,000) after a peak net outflow during the COVID-19 pandemic of -186,000. An outflow of domestic migrants from London is normal and this has been the case each year for the last two decades. This flow is partly because many international in-migrants initially settle in London before moving out to other parts of the UK. The second move in this sequence is counted as a domestic migration.

There has been a marked change in immigration since 2021. This can be attributed to the end of free movement for EU nationals, easing of travel restrictions following the COVID19 pandemic, and the war in Ukraine. At over 130,000, the 2022 MYE value for London’s net international migration represents a considerable increase from 78,000 in 2021 and greater than the previous peak value in 2015 of 112,000.

Age structure of the population

Future Updates

The next mid-year estimates will be released between June and July 2024.

The full ONS mid-year population estimates release and back series can be found on the ONS website: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates.

For information relating to London’s population see the demography pages of the London Datastore: https://data.london.gov.uk/demography/ or email demography@london.gov.uk.

An in-depth review of the available evidence for population change in London since the start of the coronavirus pandemic has been produced by GLA Demography: https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/population-change-in-london-during-the-pandemic.