London always feels busy, but it turns out that the population of the UK’s capital is only on the rise in two of the 32 boroughs across the city.
Since the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis that has followed, more people have decided to move out of London to areas with cheaper housing and a number of boroughs are seeing a net loss in its population. In fact, as reported by the BBC, only two boroughs – Bexley and Havering – in the whole of London were found to have a growing population, according to the latest statistics.
The boroughs with growing populations in London
Both Bexley and Havering lie on the east side of the city and next to the border of the edge of London. According to statistics, the former has a net migration of 669, with the latter standing at 464. Newham, which is also in the east of the city (though slightly more central) saw a net loss of 12,864, which was the highest of any London borough.
As noted by BBC, the boroughs of Lambeth and Wandsworth saw the largest number of movements across the whole of London, 41,389 people left Lambeth compared to the 35,649 that moved in. Wandsworth saw 38,964 people move in, which was the highest number of any borough across the city.
Overall, over 860,000 people left the city to live somewhere else, with 730,000 moving in. Fluctuation in population is largely being put down to the growing expense of living in the capital, especially when it comes to buying properties. Even if they continue to work in the city centre, many first-time house buyers will undoubtedly opt to go cheaper for more space somewhere outside of the city to ensure a higher quality of life.
According to a recent study, Havering, where the population is the second most affordable borough to buy a house in, with Bexley also coming in at fourth place. While this is not necessarily an overriding answer to why the population trend goes against the rest of London, it’s certainly an incentive for some to move to this borough amid high costs elsewhere.