London became one of the first megacities in the world. Since the end of World War II, however, the population of the city has begun to decrease because many people have been moving to the suburbs and new towns outside of London.

London is a multicultural city. In the 19th century, thousands of people began pouring into London as a result of the Industrial Revolution. At the beginning of the 20th century, immigrants from other European countries came.

In the 1950s and 60s, people from Britain's colonies came to London. Indians, Pakistanis and West Indians are a common sight in the city today. About 25 % of London's population are immigrants or the children of immigrants.



Crowd at the Notting Hill Carnival in 2006
Photo by DAVID ILIFF. License: CC BY-SA 3.0


Words

  • century = a period of a hundred years
  • common sight = something that can be seen very often
  • decrease = go down, become less
  • immigrant = person who leaves their home country in order to live and work somewhere else
  • megacity = very large city with millions of people
  • multicultural = people from many countries with different languages and religions
  • pour = here: move into
  • suburb = area farther away from the city centre where people live