Topics
London, 
Canada
362,006 people lived in London in 2025. It is the 1579th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 11th largest in Canada.
This is the UN's built-up area, drawn from satellite pictures and census maps rather than from the city limits, and the two can be a long way apart. The rule behind it.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How London grew
For every 10 people in London in 1985, there were 34 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 384,869 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 1990 and 1995. The UN first counts it as a city in 1985, when it passed 50,000 people.
projected (after 2025) · how sure the UN is: high moderate low
How to read this: each column is one of the UN's five-yearly estimates, 1975 through 2050, and taller means more people. Where a column is hatched the year has not happened yet. The strip under the columns is the UN's own confidence in each figure, palest where it is least sure; where it is blank the city was not on the list at all.
People · your family's years · 1975 to 2050
London through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in London in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Canada · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Canada and its 56 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people (the largest is Toronto). London is ringed, in colour; the other cities are grey. Neighbouring countries are outlines.
Area and built-up land · km²
How much land it covers
In 2025, London covered 140 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 33 km² of it. That is 92 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 10 by 10 metres. Since 1985, its built-up land has grown to 3.5 times its size, and its people are 3.4 times as many.
How to read this: each pale square is the city's whole area, the strong square inside it the part that is built on; one scale for all three, so a bigger square is more land. Hatched is the UN's projection.
Of every 100 people in Canada
Its share of Canada
Of every 1,000 people in Canada in 2025, 9 lived in London, which is 362,006 people.
How to read this: shrink Canada to 1,000 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in London; the grey ones are everybody else, in other cities, in towns and out in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 1575 Xingping China363,206
- 1576 Jakdo-dong North Korea363,071
- 1577 Linhai China362,290
- 1578 Qidong China362,192
- 1579 London362,006
- 1580 San Cristobal Venezuela361,969
- 1581 Hulan China361,540
- 1582 Vitsebsk Belarus361,484
- 1583 Dilla Ethiopia360,925
In Canada, 2025
- 900 Ottawa605,121
- 1134 Quebec490,451
- 1226 Surrey454,230
- 1292 Hamilton432,788
- 1579 London362,006
- 1629 Longueuil351,819
- 1644 Kitchener347,723
- 1842 Oshawa311,294
- 2105 Erin Woods275,476
How to read this: names are in order of size, the leading number being each city's rank among all 12,138 in 2025; the bars share a scale within a list. A jump in the ranks means a city under 300,000 people, which is not given a page here.
Apparatus
Sources and method
The figures for London are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 1985 to 2025, then projection to 2050. Projected years are drawn hatched, and the UN publishes no range of uncertainty for a city. What a city means here, how the UN measures one, and why that number can differ from the one London publishes about itself: how the figures here are put together.
Sources: UN WUP 2025 · Natural Earth · flag-icons. Every source, its licence and how to cite it →
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries