Tower Hamlets
See the Borough highlighted in red above
Comparisons
Compare Tower Hamlets's overall performance against other boroughs
Tower Hamlets is highlighted particularly in the relevant indicators listed on the right. In addition, data for all boroughs feature in the indicators below:
- Affordable housing delivered by borough
- Primary school availability by borough
- GP services by borough
- Childcare availability by borough
- Early years development by borough
- Child poverty by borough
- Landlord repossessions by borough
- Mortgage repossessions by borough
- Attainment at age 16
- Premature death by borough
Borough profile
Tower Hamlets is an Inner London borough at the heart of London’s East End. Hackney lies to the north of the borough while the River Lee forms the boundary with the London Borough of Newham in the east. The boroughs of Southwark, Lewisham and Greenwich lie to the south, across the Thames.
It was formed in 1965 as an amalgamation of the former metropolitan boroughs of Stepney, Poplar and Bethnal Green. The population of Tower Hamlets, in line with the rest of Inner London, fell from 490,000 before the Second World War to around 140,000 in 1981. The population today stands at around 220,000.
One of the defining features of the area over time has been the way in whcih it has been an entry point into the UK for generations of migrants. Significant numbers of Huguenot refugees, Ahkenazi Jews, Irish weavers and, in the 20th Century, Bangladeshis have made their home in Tower Hamlets.
In 2007, the Bangladeshi population of Tower Hamlets was estimated at around 65,000, or 30% of the population. The proportion of the population which describe themselves as an ethnicity other than White British is the third highest in London (56%).
Tower Hamlets has the third highest proportion of adults claiming out of work benefit in London. Every ward except one has a proportion of people claiming out of work benefits that is above the London average. Problems are by no means confined to the economic - Tower Hamlets also has very high rates of long term illness and premature death.
Yet this is only half the picture. Tower Hamlets also has some of the highest paid people in London, working in the financial district of Canary Wharf, which has European headquarters for HSBC, Citibank and Barclays. The proportion of jobs in Tower Hamlets that are low paid is the smallest in the capital.
LB Tower Hamlets council website
Borough:
- Barking and Dagenham
- Bexley
- Brent
- Bromley
- Camden
- City of London
- Croydon
- Ealing
- Enfield
- Greenwich
- Hackney
- Hammersmith and Fulham
- Haringey
- Harrow
- Havering
- Hillingdon
- Hounslow
- Islington
- Kensington and Chelsea
- Kingston upon Thames
- Lambeth
- Lewisham
- Merton
- Newham
- Redbridge
- Richmond upon Thames
- Southwark
- Sutton
- Tower Hamlets
- Waltham Forest
- Wandsworth
- Westminster
Relevant Indicators
- Out-of-work benefits by ward
- Pensioners receiving Pension Credit Guarantee
- Income inequalities by wards within London boroughs
- Working-age adults lacking work by borough
- Low-paid residents by borough
- Low-paid jobs by borough
- Households accepted as homeless by borough
- Temporary accommodation by borough
- Premature death by borough
- Child poverty by borough
- Out-of-work benefits by borough
- Working tax credits by borough
- Unemployment by borough
- Child dental health
- Early years development by borough
- Childcare availability by borough
- Reduction in borough budgets
- GP services by borough
- Affordable housing delivered by borough