Population change

This indicator was last updated in 2021. It is now archived and will no longer be updated. Explore London’s Poverty Profile to view our up to date indicators. If you have any questions, get in touch.

Each year, the number of births in London significantly outweighs the number of deaths. This means that natural population change (births minus deaths) is consistently a much greater contributor to population growth in London than migration. 

In 2019/20, however, natural population growth was significantly lower than in previous years (with almost 57,000 more births than deaths), mostly as a result of the higher number of deaths (presumably as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic). The impact of the pandemic on migration appears to be less evident, with a similar negative contribution to the capital’s population of 17,000 people, and similar levels of both inflows and outflows of people.

Over the last five years, the net contribution of migration to London’s population growth has been negative (-26,000), reducing in more than 7% natural population growth (360,000), leaving the net population change in London in the last 5 years at just over 340,000 people.