The density of population in Britain is well above the European Community average of about 145 per sq km. Since the nineteenth century there has been a trend, especially in London, for people to move away from congested urban centres into the suburbs. There has also been a geographical redistribution of the population from Scotland and the northern regions of England to the South East, East Anglia, the South West and the East Midlands in recent decades. An increase in the rate of retirement migration has also occurred, the main recipient areas, where in some towns the retired constitute over one-quarter of the population, being the south coast of England and East Anglia.