London will be home to 1m more by 2021
THE POPULATION of London will have risen by 13 per cent at the time of the next census, up by over one million to nearly 9.5m, increasing at more than twice the speed of the rest of England.
Excluding London, the rest of the English population will grow by only 6.1 per cent between the 2012 census and the next one in eight years’ time, according to projections from the Office for National Statistics. Tower Hamlets is expected to boom at the capital’s fastest pace during the period, with 22 per cent population growth.
The surging size of the nation’s capital will put further stress on the city’s housing stock. The population is expected to push past 10m in 2029, just 15 years away.
Official statistics yesterday also showed that the number of households numbering six or more people has swelled in London, up 50 per cent between 2001 and 2011. The city is the only part of the country in which there are now fewer one-person households than there were 12 years ago.
Builders also suggested this week that it would be impossible to build 200,000 homes per year, with a Knight Frank survey indicating only six per cent thought the number was achievable.