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It will be seen from these tables that during the 90
years, from 1801 to 1891, the houses and the population of
London have both of them increased nearly five-fold; that
in both cases the actual increase was greater and greater,
decade by decade, down to 1881, since when the increase
has largely diminished; while the rate of increase (though
within narrow limits not very regular), has substantially
remained much the same, excepting in the last decade,
when it presented a considerable fall.
This last phenomenon is not a proof that London is
yet ceasing to show that active and continuous growth
which has characterised it from the beginning of the
century, but is rather a sign that the area which technically
forms the Metropolis is becoming to a large extent so
populous as to admit of little more aggregation of living
beings, and that the growth of London must now be looked
for in the districts which immediately surround it.
The populations of London and its five groups of
Districts, as determined at the Censuses of 1881 and 1891,
are given in Table III.:—
Table III.—Populations of London and of its Groups of Districts
at Censuses of 1881 and 1891.
London.
West D.
North D.
Central D.
East D.
South D.
1881
3,816,483
669,633
905,947
282,238
692,738
1,265,927
1891
4,211,056
740,725
994,207
247,140
705,012
1,523,972