London has been found to be the most prosperous city in the UK, according to research by Barclays.

The study, that looked into factors such as household wealth and GDP, found that the capital housed nearly half of all new millionaires since 2010.

The research used factors such as number of millionaires, average annual pay, percentage of households giving to charity, business growth rates and exam scores to generate a 'Prosperity Index score' for each UK region and city.

Unsurprisingly, London scored the highest with 0.89, with Reading and Cambridge hot on the heels with 0.68 and 0.53 respectively.

As the UK’s economic powerhouse, London and the surrounding South East are still the most prosperous areas of the UK.

The increase in the capital’s house prices has contributed to the number of London millionaires growing by 48% in the past five years to 191,000 – more than the combined millionaire population of Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Northern England.

Paul Swinney, senior economic at Centre for Cities, said: “The continued strong growth of property prices in London in recent years has been a real boon for property owners, but has also created ever bigger challenges for the large number of people who rent in the capital.

“Building more homes should be the number one priority for London’s politicians, so that so that more people can continue to benefit from the great opportunities that the capital provides.”

The research also reveals that every UK region is more affluent than five years ago, with a 41% increase in the number of millionaires living in the UK since 2010, with 715,000.

Prosperity Index scores by region

London 0.81
South East 0.61
Eastern England 0.47
South West 0.41
East Midlands 0.40
Northern Ireland 0.35
West Midlands 0.34
North West 0.33
Yorkshire and the Humber 0.28
Scotland 0.28
Wales 0.25
North East 0.21

Prosperity Index scores by city

London 0.89
Reading 0.68
Cambridge 0.53
Birmingham 0.34
Bristol 0.32
Leeds 0.32
Cardiff 0.31
Manchester 0.29
Liverpool 0.29
Newcastle 0.17