London is still top in Europe

LONDON retained its status as Europe's wealthiest city last year despite a difficult 12 months. Figures from Barclays Private Clients show that London had an estimated gross domestic product of £159bn in 2001, well ahead of second-ranked Paris on £89bn and Milan in third with £74bn.

That performance would put London ninth in a league table of national European economies, ahead of Sweden, Austria, Poland, Norway and Denmark.

Barclays said the report reflected a growing concentration of wealth in major cities. Marketing director Gordon Rankin said: 'Some cities such as London are already bigger than fairly large nation states - and it would seem their importance in terms of wealth generation can only grow.'

However, London came 23rd in terms of wealth generation per head, with an average figure of £21,815. Frankfurt was Europe's most productive city with average output per head of £46,317.