Greater London is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Hertfordshire to the north, Essex to the north-east, Kent to the south-east, Surrey to the south, and Berkshire and Buckinghamshire to the west.

[3] The ceremonial county of Greater London is only slightly smaller, with an area of 1,569 km2 (606 sq mi) and a population of 8,855,333 in 2022.

The River Thames is the defining geographic feature of the area, entering it near Hampton in the west and flowing east before exiting downstream of Dagenham.

Several tributaries of the Thames flow through the area, but are now mostly culverted and form part of London's sewerage system.

The area's highest point is Westerham Heights (245 m (804 ft)), part of the North Downs.

[12] The LCC pressed for an alteration in its boundaries soon after the end of the First World War, noting that within the Metropolitan and City Police Districts there were 122 housing authorities.

[13][14] The LCC proposed a vast new area for Greater London, with a boundary somewhere between the Metropolitan Police District and the home counties.

The 1998 London referendum established a public will to recreate an upper tier of government to cover the region.

Greater London includes the most closely associated parts of the Greater London Urban Area and their historic buffers and includes, in five boroughs, significant parts of the Metropolitan Green Belt which protects designated greenfield land in a similar way to the city's parks.

The closest and furthest boundaries[clarification needed] are with Essex to the northeast between Sewardstonebury next to Epping Forest and Chingford and with the Mar Dyke between Bulphan and North Ockendon.

Greater London is also bounded by Hertfordshire to the north, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire to the west, Kent to the southeast and Surrey to the south and southwest.

[21] The only part of Greater London outside the motorway is North Ockendon, the furthest land unit from its centre.

He is scrutinised by the elected London Assembly, which may amend his annual budget (by two-thirds majority) but otherwise lacks the power to block his directives.

The headquarters of the GLA, previously at City Hall in Southwark, moved to The Crystal in Newham in January 2022.

[28][a] Despite this, Greater London is commonly regarded as a city in the general senses of a conurbation and a municipality.

[30][31] That small area is often referred to as "the City" or "the Square Mile" and it forms the main financial district.

In January 2005, a survey of London's ethnic and religious diversity claimed that there were more than 300 languages spoken and more than 50 non-indigenous communities with a population of more than 10,000.

[34] These figures do not give a fair indication of the total population of the specific ethnic groups associated with each country.

Huguenots, Eastern European Jews, Cypriots and East African Asians are examples of the former; Irish, Bangladeshis and West Indians of the latter.

The East End district around Spitalfields has been first home for several ethnic groups, which have subsequently moved elsewhere in London as they gained prosperity.

Figures before 1971 have been reconstructed by the Office for National Statistics based on past censuses to fit the 2001 boundaries.

Figures from 1981 onward are mid-year estimates (revised in August 2007), which are more accurate than the censuses, known to underestimate the population of London.

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added (GVA) of Inner London at current basic prices published (pp.

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Outer London at current basic prices published (pp.

The largest religious groupings are Christian (48.4%), Muslim (8.4%), Hindu (8.0%), Jewish (1.8%), Sikh (1.5%), and Buddhist (1.0%), alongside those of no religion (21.7%).

The United Kingdom has traditionally been Christian, and London has a large number of churches, particularly in the city.

St Paul's Cathedral in the City and Southwark Cathedral south of the river are Anglican administrative centres, while the clerical head of the Church of England and the worldwide Anglican Communion, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has his main residence at Lambeth Palace in the London Borough of Lambeth.

Important national and royal ceremonies are shared between St Paul's and Westminster Abbey.

London is home to sizeable Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Muslim and Jewish communities.

Together with UCL and Imperial, they make up the London vertex of the Golden Triangle universities, the other institutions being Oxford and Cambridge.