Azernews.Az

By Bloomberg

London’s population rose to a record, eclipsing the capital’s previous high set before World War II, with authorities projecting growth of more than a quarter by mid-century.

About 8.63 million people now live in the capital, according to data published today on the website of the Greater London Authority. That compares with the 1939 level of 8.61 million. The war and then social changes as people moved out of the city caused the population to decline to 6.7 million in 1988.

London is projected to continue to grow to a population of about 11 million people by 2050, according to the GLA. London’s Conservative mayor, Boris Johnson, put the “incredible population boom” down to low crime, a thriving economy and an abundance of green spaces, and said he’s working to ensure the capital has the infrastructure it needs to cope with additional growth.

“As our incredible city continues to grow, Londoners should rest assured that we are working tirelessly to provide the homes, water, energy, schools, transport, digital connectivity and better quality of life they expect,” Johnson said in an e-mailed statement.

London First, a lobby group that promotes the city as a business location, said today’s figures showed the scale of the task ahead to ensure the growth is sustainable.

“The challenges range from how we keep London on top as a leading economic and business hub, to how we build on the city’s emerging strengths in the technological and creative sectors,” John Dickie, the group’s director of strategy, said in an e- mailed statement. “We also need to address the challenges to London’s basic foundations, including the need for a dramatic increase in long-term infrastructure investment and house- building.”

Britain’s first census in 1801 revealed that London had a population of just over 1 million people, and the city then grew at 20 percent per decade, reaching 6.5 million in 1901.