Over 300 languages are spoken in London

First on our list of facts about London is the cultural diversity. As one of the most diverse cities in the world, London houses over 8 million residents, who collectively speak over 300 languages, including Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi, Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien and of course English.

 The latest official figures reveal that more than 300 languages are spoken in London’s schools, offering new cultural perspectives and linguistic richness to all of London’s pupils.

Over 300 languages are spoken in London

 Very many of these bilingual/multilingual children growing up in London attend Complementary Schools (Community Language Schools) on Saturdays/evenings to maintain their home language(s) in addition to their Mainstream School, where they acquire English as an Additional Language (EAL children)



In the past six or seven years, London has become the Babel of the modern world. More than a third of Londoners are now foreign born - that's around 2.5 million people. Our city encompasses more than 270 nationalities and 300 languages.

Immigrants are now essential to the city's workforce, in every industry from banking to restaurants, neurosurgery to office cleaning, IT to childcare. The Pret A Manger sandwich chain alone employs migrants from more than 105 different nationalities.

That diversity looks set to keep on growing. New official figures last week showed that in 2010 an estimated 572,000 migrants entered the country on a long-term basis, 226,000 more than Britons who emigrated. Almost 238,000 foreigners were granted settlement rights in the UK last year.

Over 300 languages are spoken in London

Before the growth in immigration from around 1998, London was already by far the most important destination for migrants to the UK. But in 1986, half the city's immigrants were made up of those from just five countries with Commonwealth ties - India, Kenya, Jamaica, Cyprus and Bangladesh - as well as Ireland.

Since 1990, those have been joined by significant numbers from nations both from outside the EU - Nigeria, Turkey, Somalia and others - as well as from Europe. And since 2004 especially, when 10 new states joined the EU, large numbers of Eastern Europeans, especially Poles, have arrived. In fact, almost 40 per cent of all the UK's migrants now live here.