Southern England

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Southern England South of England The South
Sub-national area of England
In this image, the official definition of Southern England is illustrated in yellow.
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Country	England
Major cities	UTC+1 (BST )

Southern England, also known as the South of England or the South, is a sub-national part of

Culturally speaking, the majority of people think that the South consists of the South East (92%), Greater London (88%), South West (87%), and to lesser extent the East of England (57%).[3] However, 35% of people surveyed placed the East of England as part of the Midlands. Generally people in the North tend to put the East of England in the South more than people in the South or Midlands.^{[citation needed]}

The Home Counties identify in a similar way to the neighbouring Midlands, in this case sharing culture with London and the outer areas yet identifying as separate from each.^{[citation needed]}

The South contains approximately a quarter of the United Kingdom's area. The geographic split is north-east (

The South has land borders with Wales and the English Midlands and a sea border with France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

The South is generally more low-lying than the North. There are a number of hill ranges, such as the Cotswolds and the Chilterns. The highest point in the South is High Willhays 2,037 ft (621 m), located in Devon within Dartmoor National Park.

London is the largest city in the South of England and is the capital of the United Kingdom. The London Metropolitan Area has a population of 14.2 million (2019), making it the largest metropolitan area in Europe.^[4]

Largest cities and towns in Southern England 2021 Census[5]
	Rank		Counties	Pop.	Rank		Counties	Pop.
London Bristol	1	London	Greater London	8,776,535	11	Bournemouth	Dorset	196,455	Brighton and Hove Plymouth
	2	Bristol	Bristol	425,215	12	Peterborough	Cambridgeshire	190,605
	3	Brighton and Hove	East Sussex	277,105	13	Swindon	Wiltshire	183,680
	4	Plymouth	Devon	266,955	14	Southend-on-Sea	Essex	182,305
	5	Southampton	Hampshire	249,620	15	Oxford	Oxfordshire	170,805
	6	Luton	Bedfordshire	233,525	16	Slough	Berkshire	160,270
	7	Portsmouth	Hampshire	223,305	17	Cambridge	Cambridgeshire	152,740
	8	Reading	Berkshire	203,795	18	Ipswich	Suffolk	151,565
	9	Norwich	Norfolk	200,770	19	Poole	Dorset	141,005
	10	Milton Keynes	Buckinghamshire	197,340	20	Watford	Hertfordshire	131,325

The table below shows the urban areas in the region with a population of at least 250,000.

Broadly speaking, Southern England is considerably wealthier than the Midlands and the North. The South East England region was found to have the highest concentration of high-wealth families in the country, followed by London.

English is the native language of the English people and the main language spoken in the South. The South of England has a dialect and accent distinct from that of other parts of the UK. Due to the prominence of the South in media and politics, Standard British English is largely based on the English spoken in the South. For example, the standard British accent, Received Pronunciation, is very similar to the educated speech of London, Oxford and Cambridge.^[13]

Standard Southern British English, a "modern" form of Received Pronunciation, is now considered to be the most commonly spoken form of English in much of the South.

In the South West of England, West Country English is a common regional dialect and is the only rhotic dialect spoken in Southern England.

People often apply the terms "southern" and "south" loosely, without deeper consideration of the geographical identities of Southern England. This can cause confusion over the depth of affiliation between its areas. As in much of the rest of England, people tend to have a deeper affiliation to their county or city. Thus, residents of Essex are unlikely to feel much affinity with people in Oxfordshire. Similarly, there is a strong distinction between natives of the south-west and south-east. The broadcaster Stuart Maconie has noted that culturally "there's a bottom half of England [...] but there isn't a south in the same way that there's a north".^[18]

One major manifestation of the North–South divide is in health and

The South of England has a number of world-renowned universities, such as the ancient universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and many Russell Group universities, such as Imperial College London, University of Exeter and the London School of Economics.

The

Other major derbies in Southern England are West Country derbies and London derbies.^[25][26]

Rugby union is the dominant code played in the south with a minor rugby league presence.^[b] One of the biggest derbies is the West Country derby (Bath v Gloucester).^[27]

Southern England consists of four regions and 22 counties: the East of England, London, South East and South West. Ceremonial counties are:

The historic counties ceased to be used for any administrative purpose in 1899 but remain important to some people, notably for county cricket.

There is a network of local enterprise partnerships, some areas are further devolved:

• Home Counties
  (areas adjoining Greater London)
• East Anglia (former kingdom)
• Thames Valley (upper valley)
• Wessex (former kingdom)
• West Country (demonym of area with a specific dialect)

• Constitutional status of Cornwall
• European Parliament constituencies in the United Kingdom
• Home Counties
• North–South divide in England
• North–South divide in the United Kingdom
• Regions of England
• Subdivisions of England
• Lloegyr