Samuel Johnson once said “By seeing London, I have seen as much of life as the world can show.” Numbers and figures revealing this city’s rich history, including stats on the Underground, numbers from London’s fire in 1666, the London Stock Exchange, London’s workforce and more.

1. Greater London Report
Numbers are the fuel which drives the London
economy. They also shed light on the city’s
history and dynamically cosmopolitan present.
© Copyright 2012 London Business School

2. METRO MEN AND WOMEN 7,865,404
The population of London is, as we write, 7,865,404. The city covers
some 1,583 sq. km. or 611 sq. miles. London is the largest city in
Western Europe.
trueknowledge.com
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3. NEWT BEGINNINGS 500,000
Olympic Park, an area of land the size of 357 football pitches, was
converted from an industrial area into a top environmental
showcase for the Olympics, and it will remain after the Games are
over. It is estimated that 500,000 plants have been planted in the
wetlands area and 4,000 newts were relocated to the Waterworks
Nature Preserve.
london2012.com
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4. TUBULAR SWELLS 1.1 billion
London Underground, aka the Tube, carries over one billion
passengers a year and services 270 stations along its travels.
It was the world’s first underground transit system when its
first station opened on 10 January 1863. Waterloo station has
the most commuters with 82 million people passing through
each year.
tfl.gov.uk
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5. BIG BEN
Big Ben is the nickname of a bell that rings in the clock
tower at the northern end of the Houses of Parliament in
Westminster.
wikipedia.org
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6. OLYMPIC RECORD 860 metres
London’s newly constructed Olympic Stadium extends 60 metres
high above the playing field and has a perimeter of 860 metres.
mirror.co.uk
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7. “By seeing London, I have seen as much
of life as the world can show.”
Samuel Johnson
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8. LONDON’S BURNING 1666
In 1666, half of London was burned down in the Great Fire, with
70,000 of the 80,000 homes of the lower-class populace being
destroyed; however, only six people were recorded injured.
Despite protests, London reconstruction used almost the exact
same street plan as before the Great Fire.
goldentours.com
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9. CITY FIGURES
17% of the UK’s total GDP comes from London. This is
roughly equal to the GDP of Sweden, Belgium or Russia. The
London Stock Exchange is also the largest exchange in the
world, responsible for 32% of the world’s transactions.
usatoday.com
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10. STOCK CONTROL £167 billion
As of September 2011, there were around 2,900 companies
listed on the London Stock Exchange for a total of £2.3
trillion. There were also approximately 12 million trades
during that month equal to £167 billion.
money-zine.com
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11. WORKERS OF THE WORLD 13,000
The workforce in London, at around 9 million people, is the
largest concentration of labour in Europe. London has close
to 13,000 businesses operating in the City.
money-zine.com
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12. IN AND OUTS 1.3 billion
It is estimated that 1.3 million people move in and out of
the city of London annually.
londoncouncils.gov.uk
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13. THE RED TELEPHONE BOX
Of the over 15,000 red kiosk pay phones, based on the
designs by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, that are currently deployed
throughout the United Kingdom, 946 are in London.
bt.com
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14. “London is a modern Babylon.”
Benjamin Disraeli
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15. AT YOUR SERVICE 85 %
85% of employed greater Londoners have jobs in the service
industries. As well as being home to Europe's greatest financial
services cluster, London is also a media hub – home to the BBC,
newspapers and magazines, as well as a host of production
companies.
wikipedia.org
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16. RETAIL 300
In 2011 London was named the best European city for shopping
by the Globe Shopper City Index, and Oxford Street is the busiest
shopping street in Europe. As of 2011, Oxford Street contained
300 shops and stores. A number of department stores consider
their home or ‘flagship’ stores to be at this location, including
Selfridges, Marks & Spencer and Debenhams.
oxfordstreet.tel
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17. BIRTH AD50
Founded in AD 50, London is unusual in that while most
Roman towns were built over previous sites, it was
created from scratch.
archaeology.co.uk
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18. This report was part of Business Strategy Review,
Volume 23 Issue 2 - 2012
Visit the website www.london.edu/bsr
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