The Guardian has a wonderful feature today detailing its claim that today’s London is the world’s most diverse city ever.
| New York and Toronto would contest the cosmopolitan crown, but London’s case is strong. According to the last census, in 2001, 30% of London residents had been born outside England — that’s 2.2 million people, to which we can add the unknown tens of thousands who didn’t complete a census form. And even this total takes no account of the contribution of the city’s second- and third-generation immigrants, many of whom have inherited the traditions of their parents and grandparents. Throughout the 1990s, Greater London was the fastest growing part of the UK — and yet the white population in that time actually fell. |
| Altogether, more than 300 languages are spoken by the people of London, and the city has at least 50 non-indigenous communities with populations of 10,000 or more. Virtually every race, nation, culture and religion in the world can claim at least a handful of Londoners. |
The maps repay close scrutiny (overall map, ethnicity maps, religion maps). It’s easier in print than on the web.