Population and built-up density - Cities and FUAs — Urbanised area in London
London: Population and built-up density - Cities and FUAs — Urbanised area was 400 Square kilometres in 2030. ▲ Rising
Population and built-up density - Cities and FUAs — Urbanised area in London, 1975–2030
Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Measured in Square kilometres.
Analysis
In 2030, population and built-up density - cities and fuas — urbanised area in London stood at 400 Square kilometres. That is the highest value across all 12 years on record.
The figure is up 1.0% over ten years.
Over the whole period, population and built-up density - cities and fuas — urbanised area in London peaked at 400 Square kilometres in 2030 and was at its lowest, 336 Square kilometres, in 1975.
That places London 24th out of 1364 regions with data for 2030, putting it in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 12 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 336 Square kilometres | 336 Square kilometres | 336 Square kilometres | 1 |
| 1980s | 345.5 Square kilometres | 342 Square kilometres | 349 Square kilometres | 2 |
| 1990s | 360.5 Square kilometres | 355 Square kilometres | 366 Square kilometres | 2 |
| 2000s | 379.5 Square kilometres | 377 Square kilometres | 382 Square kilometres | 2 |
| 2010s | 390.5 Square kilometres | 388 Square kilometres | 393 Square kilometres | 2 |
| 2020s | 397 Square kilometres | 396 Square kilometres | 398 Square kilometres | 2 |
| 2030s | 400 Square kilometres | 400 Square kilometres | 400 Square kilometres | 1 |
More population data for London
- Heat stress - Cities and FUAs — Mean population exposure to heat 8.36 Days per year (2025)
- Population by age and sex - Cities and FUAs 9.76 million Persons (2024)
- Population by citizenship - Cities and FUAs 20.7 Percentage of population (2021)
- Foreign-born population - Cities and FUAs 35.4 Percentage of population (2021)
Frequently asked questions
- What is population and built-up density - cities and fuas — urbanised area in London?
- Population and built-up density - cities and fuas — urbanised area in London was 400 Square kilometres in 2030, according to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
- What is the highest population and built-up density - cities and fuas — urbanised area recorded in London?
- The highest recorded value was 400 Square kilometres in 2030.
- What is the lowest population and built-up density - cities and fuas — urbanised area recorded in London?
- The lowest recorded value was 336 Square kilometres in 1975.
- How does London rank for population and built-up density - cities and fuas — urbanised area?
- London ranks 24th out of 1364 regions with data for 2030.
- Is population and built-up density - cities and fuas — urbanised area rising or falling in London?
- Over the last ten years it is up 1.0%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this London data come from?
- The figures come from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, published as part of Population and built-up density - Cities and FUAs — Urbanised area. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 12 observations, free to reuse under OECD Terms and Conditions (attribution required).
About this data
This dataset provides indicators of population density and built-up area in FUAs and cities. Data sources and methodology FUA and city surfaces are calculated from FUA and city shapefiles, using GIS tools. Built-up data uses GHSL built-up surface grids (European Commission, GHSL Data Package 2023). Population counts are extracted from the Population by age and sex - FUAs and cities dataset. GHSL is used as it provides harmonised, globally consistent coverage at fine spatial resolution (100 m), enabling the production of comparable subnational indicators on built-up areas. These estimates may differ from official subnational built-up statistics due to differences in methodologies, such as top down remote-sensing based estimations versus bottom up cadastral or administrative data, along with differences in satellite imagery sources, spatial resolution, and model accuracy used to detect and classify built up areas. Defining FUAs and cities The OECD, in cooperation with the EU, has developed a harmonised definition of functional urban areas (FUAs) to capture the economic and functional reach of cities based on daily commuting patterns (OECD, 2012). FUAs consist of: A city – defined by urban centres in the degree of urbanisation, adapted to the closest local administrative units to define a city. A commuting zone – including all local areas where at least 15% of employed residents work in the city. The delineation process includes: Assigning municipalities surrounded by a single FUA to that FUA. Excluding non-contiguous municipalities. The definition identifies 1 285 FUAs and 1 402 cities in all OECD member countries except Costa Rica and three accession countries. Cite this dataset OECD Regions, cities and local areas database (Population and built-up density - Cities and FUAs), http://oe.cd/geostats Further information OECD Local Data Portal OECD Regions and Cities at a Glance For questions and/or comments, please email CitiesStat@oecd.org