07Appendix 1: Geographies used in this paper

London’s geographic definition

Table 2: The three geographies considered performed similarly in the period analysed

Variable Metro London (OECD definition) London (PUA) Greater London
Population (2019) 12,396,541 10,212,300 8,961,600
Population as a share of PUA (%) 121.4 100.0 88.0
Population growth, 2007-2019 (%) 14.7 15.7 16.5
GDP (2019) £628,342 £556,360 £503,655
GDP as a share of PUA (%) 113.0 100.0 91.0
GDP nominal growth, 2007-2019 52.3 55.3 55.5
Employment (2019) 6,786,264 5,958,835 4,664,800
Employment as a share of PUA (%) 113.9 100.0 78.3
Employment growth, 2007-2019 (%) 23.9 – 27.6

Source: ONS, OECD (Metropolitan areas). Employment variation not included due to methodological changes at the local authority level.

Figure 23: Due to data constraints, this paper uses three definitions of London

Source: ONS, OECD.

International peers’ geography

Table 3: Due to data availability, international cities also used more than one geographic definition

City OECD Metropolitan area (and population) ITL definition (and population)
Paris Metropolitan France (12.9m) Île-de-France (12.2m)
Brussels Metropolitan Brussels (3.2m) Brussels Capital Region (1.2m)
Stockholm Metropolitan Stockholm (2.3m) Stockholm (2.3m)
New York Greater New York (19.9m) New York-Newark-Bridgeport (23.1m)

Source: OECD, national statistics institutes. 2019 population for most areas; 2018 population for Metropolitan Paris and 2021 for New York-Newark-Bridgeport area.