KCL • CCH • Minor programme • AV1000 • Numerical and graphical analysis

AV1000
Fundamentals of the digital humanities
Demographics of London: two problems

1. Population of inner and outer London, 60 C.E. to 2004

An official census for the population of London began in 1801 and was taken regularly at 10-year intervals through 1931. Because of World War II, the census was estimated in 1939 and not taken in 1941. The 10-year cycle resumed in 1951. (See the National Statistics website for details.) Given on a linked page is a population table based on data supplied by Demographia, an undertaking of a commercial consultancy. In this table the figures before 1801 are estimates made at varying intervals.

A problem presented by the table is to represent the variation in population density between Inner London and the outer boroughs comprising Greater London to see what patterns can be detected.

Do the following:

• Enter the figures supplied by the table into a spreadsheet.
• Estimate the population for 1941 in some reasonable way.
• Generate a chart showing three lines of population density: (1) inner London, (2) the outer boroughs and (3) the total density for Greater London.
• Account as best you can for the variations in population you see. Certain historical facts may prove relevant, for example:
  • the introduction of the railroad in the nineteenth century;
  • World War I (1914–1918) and II (1939–1945; Britain entered the war in 1939, the Battle of Britain started in 1940).

2. Current age distribution in the boroughs

The 2001 Census shows (among many other things) the distribution of age-groups in Inner and Outer London and in each of the boroughs individually. Choose a borough you have reason to think would be somewhat out of the ordinary and compare its age-distribution pattern to that of London as a whole and each of Inner and Outer London. What can you infer about your chosen borough? What more would you need to know to confirm your suspicions?

revised January 2008