London is unarguably one of the great cities of the world. It has an unrivalled cultural and artistic heritage, helping to confirm its place as a vibrant and dynamic city.

It is home to over 7 million people and has a resident workforce of some 3.4 million, which is supplemented further by a large number of commuters.

New survey

What makes London special is revealed in the most comprehensive and up-to-date statistical survey of London. The book covers a wide range of demographic social and economic data, and has been produced by the Office for National Statistics in partnership with the Greater London Authority, the Government Office for London and the London Development Agency.

Ethnic city

Over 300 languages are spoken and the 2001 Census shows that 29 per cent of London's population belonged to a minority ethnic group. One in five small businesses are owned or managed by members of minority ethnic communities.

London is one of the few global centres for international business and it is comparable in size to many national economies.

Economy

The service sector dominates London’s economy. Key services among the sector are finance and business services, the public sector, tourism and hospitality and the creative and cultural industries.

Finance and business services alone accounted for 35 per cent of London’s Gross Value Added (GVA) in 1998. However, manufacturing is still an important part of London’s economy, accounting for over 11 per cent of London’s GVA in 1998 and the third highest region in cash terms, with GVA of £13 billion.

London a city of extremes

While London stands out as one of the most successful regions in the UK, it is also a city divided between the extremes of wealth creation and success, and deprivation and social exclusion.

For example, the average gross weekly earnings of male full-time, non-manual London employees is a third higher than in the UK as a whole, and yet 20 per cent of wards in London are in the 10 per cent of the most deprived wards in England.

Household income

Forty-three per cent of households in London had a gross weekly income of over £600 in 1999-2002, compared with 30 per cent of households in the UK as a whole. The average gross weekly household income for London, at £711 in 1999-2002, was £186 higher than the average for the UK.

In Inner London in 2001/02, 23 per cent of households received Income Support or Working Families' Tax credit compared with 13 per cent in Outer London. This pattern is broadly similar for Council Tax Benefit with 28 per cent of households in Inner London in receipt compared with 15 per cent of those in Outer London.

Londoners spend more on housing and less on transport

Weekly average household expenditure per person in London was £199 in 2001/02, compared with the UK average of £168. As a proportion of their income, Londoners spend more on housing and less on transport than the national average.

London had the highest proportion, 48 per cent, of households with access to the Internet out of all regions in the UK in 2001/02, and over half of all London households were in possession of at least one mobile phone in the period 1999-2002.

Less drinking in London

Londoners drink less than the GB average. Twenty three per cent of men in London drank 22 or more units of alcohol per week in 2001/02, compared with 27 per cent in Great Britain as a whole. Twelve per cent of women drank 15 or more units a week compared with 15 per cent in Great Britain.

Other key figures:

• In 2001 London accounted for 70 per cent of total natural population growth in the UK even though London is home to only 12 per cent of the total UK population.
• The 2001 census showed that 2.1 million people belonging to a minority ethnic group lived in London – 29 per cent of the city’s total population.
• Each household in London produces 1.1 tonnes of waste a year, and the quantity is growing at 2.5 per cent per annum.
• In 2002, rainfall exceeded 700 mm for the third year running - a figure which has otherwise only been exceeded twice since 1940.
• Workers in Inner London have the highest gross value added (GVA) per head than in any other region in Europe.
• In 2001 Newham and Tower Hamlets had on employment rate of 54 per cent – the lowest rate in the whole of Great Britain.
• In 2002 72 per cent of under five year olds were in education in London, a higher rate than the UK average.
• The proportion of 16 year olds with no graded GCSE results fell more in London by 2002 than in England as a whole.
• In 2001 nearly a third of all employees in theatre and cinema sectors worked in London.
• Half of all households in Inner London do not have a car.
• Londoners spend almost double the UK average on mobile phones.

Copies of Focus on London 2003 are available from The Stationary Office, tel. 0870 600 5522, priced £45 - ISBN 0 11 621647 6 but the study is available free on the National Statistics website: www.statistics.gov.uk/london