Piccadilly Circus at night. - With increasing industrialisation, London's population grew rapidly throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, and was the most populated city in the world until overtaken by New York in 1925. Its population peaked at 8,615,245 in 1939. There were an estimated 7,517,700 people living in the Greater London area in mid-2005.[26] However, London's continuous urban area extends beyond the borders of Greater London and was home to 8,278,251 people at the 2001 UK census,[27] whilst its wider metropolitan area has a population of between 12 and 14 million depending on the definition of that area[28] [29]. As per Eurostat, London is the most populous city and metropolitan area of the European Union [30]. The region covers an area of 1,579 square kilometres. The population density is 4,761 people per square kilometres, more than ten times that of any other English region.