London By Numbers

M@
By M@ Last edited 219 months ago
London By Numbers
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One hundred years is a deucedly long time in the life of a great city. And much has changed, as this selection box of statistics shows.

Figures are for greater London, unless otherwise stated. The first number indicates the 1905 value, the second shows the 2005 figure.

Population (Greater London): ~6.8 m; ~7.5 m

Population (Inner London): ~4.5 m; ~2.8 m

World ranking (by population): 1st; 19th

Murder rate: 8 per million; 27 per million

Suicide rate: 74 per million; 106 per million

Pubs: 7500; 3800

Theatres: 50; 147

Shops: 78,000; 40,000

Houses: 900,000; 3 million

Fire fighters: 1200; 5700

Police force: 15,500; 32,000

Bus routes: 150; 649

Cabs: 11,000; 21,000

Motor cars: ~500; ~3 million

Tallest Building: St Pauls (112 m); 1 Canada Square (235 m)

One set of figures we couldn’t get our mits on concerns 1905 immigration and ethnic diversity, obviously a major feature of the modern city. As usual, though, Baedeker’s sums it up nicely: “There are in London more Scotsmen than in Aberdeen, more Irish than in Dublin, more Jews than in Palestine, and more Roman Catholics than in Rome.

Last Updated 28 December 2005