London is a leading global city,[14][15] in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism, and transport.[16][17][18] It is one of the world’s leading financial centres[19][20][21] and has the fifth-or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world.[note 3][22][23] London is a world cultural capital.[24][25][26] It is the world’s most-visited city as measured by international arrivals[27] and has the world’s largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic.[28] London is one of the world’s leading investment destinations,[29][30][31] hosting moreinternational retailers[32][33] and ultra high-net-worth individuals[34][35]than any other city. London’s universities form the largest concentration of higher education institutes in Europe,[36] and a 2014 report placed it first in the world university rankings. According to the report London also ranks first in the world in software, multimedia development and design, and shares first position in technology readiness.[37] In 2012, London became the first city to host the modern Summer Olympic Games three times.[38]
London has a diverse range of peoples and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken within Greater London.[39] Its estimated mid-2015 population was 8,673,713,[2] the largest of any city in the European Union,[40] and accounting for 12.5 per cent of the UK population.[41]London’s urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census.[42] The city’s metropolitan area is one of the most populous in Europe with 13,879,757 inhabitants,[note 4][43] while the Greater London Authority states the population of the city-region (covering a large part of the south east) as 22.7 million.[44] London was the world’s most populous city from around 1831 to 1925.[45]
London contains four World Heritage Sites: the Tower of London; Kew Gardens; the site comprising the Palace of Westminster, Westminster Abbey, and St Margaret’s Church; and the historic settlement ofGreenwich (in which the Royal Observatory, Greenwich marks the Prime Meridian, 0° longitude, and GMT).[46] Other famous landmarks includeBuckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Paul’s Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. London is home to numerous museums, galleries, libraries, sporting events and other cultural institutions, including the British Museum, National Gallery,Natural History Museum, Tate Modern, British Library and West Endtheatres.[47] The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world.[48][49]
