8% more people in same-size London

London's population grew by eight per cent during the past decade but the size of the city stayed the same. The whole Greater London urban area saw its population increase by 627,000 to 8.3 million in the 10 years to the most recent government census.

But the physical size of the city only increased by 0.4 per cent.That means there are now 51 people per hectare - just under 2.5 acres - an increase of nearly four people per hectare.

The new figures from

the 2001 census show that nearly nine in 10 people in England and Wales live in urban areas. But that is only a fraction more - 0.2 per cent - than the previous 1991 census.

Today's report, by National Statistics, shows there are four giant urban regions, each with at least a million people. They are Greater London and conurbations in the Midlands, West Yorkshire and the North West.