Olympics success helped drive a baby boom in London, Boris Johnson has claimed.
The London Mayor joked at the conclusion of the Games last summer that the athletes "produced such paroxysms of tears and joy on the sofas of Britain that you probably not only inspired a generation but helped to create one as well".
He said the remark during the victory parade had been proved correct as the birth rate had reached a 40-year high.
"That does turn out to have been entirely prophetic in the sense that the birth rate is now at a 40-year high in London," Johnson told Channel 4's The Last Leg
"It presents lots of public policy problems because we have got to build loads more homes, we have got to get the government investing in public transport in London so we can do all the things we need to do.
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"But it helps us to make our case."
Johnson said it was a "great sign of people's confidence in London" and people were no longer moving out of the capital as they did in the 1960s or 1970s.
"They are not going to Essex - nothing wrong with Essex - they are staying, the schools are getting better, the transport's fantastic, people want to bring up their families here," he said.
"Given that extraordinary social change we have got to make the investment."
