Ely has been informally accounted a city by virtue of being the seat of a diocese. Its status was confirmed by Royal Charter in 1974, when the parish council of the single civil parish that makes up Ely was formed during a reorganisation of local government.
With a population of 15,102 in 2009, Ely is the third smallest city in England after Wells in Somerset and the City of London, and the sixth smallest in the United Kingdom with St David's, Bangor, and Armagh also smaller.
