Housing
U.K. Predicts a Population Boom in London
Over 1 million new Londoners will arrive within a decade—while some northern cities shrink.
By 2024, London’s population will push close to 10 million—but many northern English cities will be increasingly drained of their residents. That’s the stark picture painted by U.K. government projections released Wednesday that predict future growth across England (but not Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland).
Calculating the direction of population growth over the next eight years, Britain’s Office of National Statistics expects that the number of Londoners will reach 9.71 million by 2024. That’s a rise of 1.17 million within just a decade. To get a rough idea of the speed and volume of this growth, imagine the entire population of Brussels (1.14 million) turning up in London and looking for somewhere to live.