This is a list of the largest cities and towns of the United Kingdom ordered by population. The populations are 2001 census figures from The Office for National Statistics (for England and Wales), the General Register Office for Scotland, and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency using the Key Statistics for Urban Areas figures (referred to as settlements in Scotland and Northern Ireland), that attempt to divorce the populations of towns and cities from the Local Authority district(s) that they are contained within.
These figures are not the population of City Councils. In some examples where the Local Authority has very limited boundaries, the population of some outside suburbs has been included; in other cases, where the Local Authority has very generously-drawn boundaries, the population of rural areas within the boundary has been excluded. In some cases, suburbs of towns that are within the local authority boundary, but have been recognised as part of the larger urban area, have been excluded from the figure (e.g. Beaumont Leys not counted towards Leicester, and Clifton not counted towards Nottingham). In many areas rather than follow modern local authority boundaries, the figures follow pre-1974 local government boundaries (for example, Oldbury/Smethwick are counted as a single unit, corresponding to the pre-1974 County Borough of Warley).
These figures, on the other hand, should also not be confused with the population of conurbations. The original statistics were calculated and presented in that format; but in this list urban areas and urban sub-divisions recognised as towns with a population greater than 100,000 have been extracted and listed separately. Thus, for instance, the Greater Manchester Urban Area has a far larger population than that accredited to Manchester here; this list counts towns such as Salford, Sale and Stockport separately.
This system has not, however, been followed with respect to London. The population given is for the administrative area of Greater London (that is the 32 London Boroughs and City of London only and not the entire Greater London Urban Area identified by the ONS) as this would include places like Watford and Woking which are distinct and separate towns.
This internal inconsistency in its tabulation explains why the list shows such a steep drop-off after London. The actual City of London only has a 2001 census population of 7,185, whilst the administrative area of Greater London has a population of 7,172,091.
Also, Telford and Milton Keynes are given the Urban Area figures, as there are no appropriate Urban Subdivision figures given.
† – population is given for entire urban area, as "urban subdivision" figures were not considered useful.
†† – the actual name of the Urban Subdivision is Cambridge/Milton, the population of the Parish of Milton (code 12UG072 in the ONS 2001 Census publication "Key Statistics for parishes in England and communities in Wales" published 16 March 2004) is given as 4,275. This figure has been deducted from the Urban Subdivision figure of 117,717 to show the population of Cambridge alone.