You asked

Under the Freedom of Information Act, I would like to request the population for all major UK towns & cities as defined here:

https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/datasets/major-towns-and-cities-december-2015-names-and-codes-in-england-and-wales

While I've been able to find population estimates by local authority, I've thus far not found specific population for core towns and cities in this way, so would appreciate any help you can offer.

We said

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request about the population of major towns and cities in the UK.

Our mid-2018 population estimates are available through our Nomis website, where you can download the population by age and sex for towns and cities for England and Wales.

For similar data for Northern Ireland and Scotland please contact National Records Scotland (NRS) and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA). They can be contacted at foi@nrscotland.gov.uk and info@nisra.gov.uk respectively.

For population data, we produce statistics constrained to local authority boundaries and geographies linked to them. These do not always coincide with perceived city or town boundaries. You may find these articles informative:

https://www.citymetric.com/what-city-anyway

https://www.citymetric.com/skylines/where-are-largest-cities-britain-1404

When accessing any of our files please read the 'notes, terms and conditions' contained within them.

Please do not hesitate to contact us directly on pop.info@ons.gov.uk if you require anything further.