I have lived in five countries including the UK and never seen such a sign in real life.
I only know them from American movies, where I've always semi-felt they were some sort of Wild West joke or something, like when they reduce the number by one after a lynching.
I can't conceive of why the population would be posted outside a town, rather than its GDP, area in hectares, name of its mayor, or some other random datum.
travel.stackexchange.com/users/76528/Amy Dee Dempster
Most villages/towns/cities have signs saying "Welcome to {name of village/town/city} ", but they (almost exclusively) don't have populations on them in the UK.
When you drive along motorways, like the M4, you don't go into any villages/towns/ cities, so you don't see the "Welcome to {name of village/town/city} " signs.
You do see "Welcome to {name of county} " though.
London, UK, possibly doesn't have these signs anyway -
London's too big.
I expected to find signs to the boroughs and/or the towns and villages that have been absorbed into Greater London, but I didn't find anything for "Welcome to Westminster sign" on google images, or for Hackney or Brixton either.
Possibly only smaller towns and villages bother with the signs.
I did find this for Tolworth, an area of the Kingston-upon-Thames borough.
travel.stackexchange.com/users/33050/AndyT
At least one existed: one was erected in Trowbridge in 1999, and then replaced later.
But they are exceedingly rare, and I'm not entirely sure that these count as 'road signs'.
Source:
Geograph
travel.stackexchange.com/users/76547/Dragon
According to a brief google search (and from personally visiting several countries on different continents), the population number on the welcome sign seems to be a North American custom.
I've never seen this anywhere else.
So, to answer your question, there most likely are no such signs, you didn't miss them.
travel.stackexchange.com/users/76529/Kakturus
You didn't miss them - they don't exist here, or indeed almost anywhere outside of the USA as far as I've seen.
Also, our councils can hardly manage to fill potholes, posting optional factoids on signs is just extravagance.
travel.stackexchange.com/users/20361/John U
As others have said, town signs in the UK don't have the population on.
What they do quite often have, however, is "twinned with", showing the other towns and cities they are partnered with for cultural exchange reasons - as shown on the bottom of the Trowbridge sign in @Dragon's post
travel.stackexchange.com/users/18319/Nick C
In the UK, we have no local registration of one's residence.
You can move somewhere and the only thing the council knows about a change in residence, is one name on the council tax bill, a new kid in a school, new benefit claim, etc.
There is no need to register other family members or lodgers.
The only reasonably reliable count of population is every 10 years when the census is taken.
The rest of the time, it would be a costly hassle for councils to maintain such a sign.
travel.stackexchange.com/users/83751/Nick
I had a trip from Heathrow Airport to Swindon and later turned back to the airport via the M4. During the trip I haven't noticed any signs that show populations of towns.   When I searched for London on the internet, the results were mostly for a city in Canada.   Did I miss the road signs or aren't there any signs?
Aren't there road signs that show populations of towns in the UK?
travel.stackexchange.com
<uk><driving><london><swindon>
travel.stackexchange.com/questions/113259
travel.stackexchange.com/users/63373/ahmedus
While welcome signs are common in the UK, signs showing the population are almost unknown outside of the US. In the UK they do not put th total population of a town or city on road signs. One of the reasons for this is that there is no way for these towns/cities to know what the total population is due to the fact that there is no local registration of one's residence.
The UK does not post the total population of a town on road signs so you will not find them. In the UK, we have no local registration of one's residence so there is no way to tell what the total population of a town is.