London is the capital and most populous city of both England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain, London has been a major settlement for two millennia. Its estimated mid-2016 municipal population (corresponding to Greater London) was 8,787,892 and accounts for 13.4% of the population in the United Kingdom. The city's metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 14,040,163 inhabitants (2016), while the Greater London Authority states the population of the city-region (covering a large part of the south east) as 22.7 million.
London, always a cosmopolitan city, has steadily grown more polyglot and multicultural.
London is a leading global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism and transportation. It is the world's largest financial centre and has the fifth or sixth largest metropolitan area GDP in the world. London is often regarded as a world cultural capital. It is the world's most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the world's largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic.
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