Southern England

Southern England, or the South of England, also known as the

South, is an area of England consisting of its southernmost part, Southern England
with cultural, economic and political differences from the Midlands South of England
and the North. The area includes Greater London, the South East,
the West Country (or the South West), and the East (sometimes Super-region of England
referred to as East Anglia). The distinction between the south and Nickname(s): The South
rest of England and Great Britain is sometimes referred to as the
north–south divide. With a population of nearly 28 million; and an
area of 62,042 square kilometres (23,955 sq mi), the south
accounts for roughly 40% of the population of the United
Kingdom and approximately 25% of its area.

Contents
Definitions
Geography
Demographics
Language
English
In this image, official definitions of
Cornish Southern England are illustrated
People as yellow.
Health Sovereign state
Education United
Kingdom
Sport
Country
Rugby
Football England
Divisions 10 largest London
Regions Settlements in Bristol
order of
Ceremonial counties population Southampton
Historic counties Portsmouth
Brighton
See also
Reading
References Plymouth
Milton Keynes
Swindon
Definitions Luton
Area
For official purposes, the UK government does not refer to the • Total 62,042 km2
Southern England as a single entity, but the Office for National (23,955 sq mi)
Statistics divides UK into twelve regions. In England, the North
Population (2011)
West, North East and Yorkshire and the Humber make up the
North ("centre-north"); the West Midlands and East Midlands (as • Total 27,945,000
well as Wales) make up the Midlands ("centre-south") and the rest • Density 450/km2
of England make up the South.[1] (1,200/sq mi)
• Urban 22,806,000
Culturally speaking, the majority of people think that the South • Rural 5,139,000
consists of the South West (87%), South East (92%), Greater Demonym(s) Southerner
London (88%) and to lesser extent the East of England (57%). [2]
Time zone GMT (UTC)
However, 35% of people surveyed placed the East of England as • Summer (DST) UTC+1 (BST)
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.

Geography
The South has a land border with 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 notable hill ranges, such as
the Cotswolds and the Chilterns. Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset form a peninsula extending
towards the Atlantic.

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.[3]

Demographics

Language

English

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.[4]

Cornish

Cornish is a revived language and is an important part of the identity and culture of the Cornish people.[5]

People

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".[6]

Health

One major manifestation of the North–South divide is in

health and life expectancy statistics.[7] All three Northern
England statistical regions have lower than average life
expectancies and higher than average rates of cancer,
circulatory disease and respiratory disease.[8][9] The South
of England has a higher life expectancy than the North,
however, regional differences do seem to be slowly
narrowing: between 1991–1993 and 2012–2014, life
expectancy in the North East increased by 6.0 years and in
the North West by 5.8 years, the fastest increase in any
region outside London, and the gap between life expectancy
in the North East and South East is now 2.5 years, down
from 2.9 in 1993.[9] Furthermore, all such figures represent
an average – affluent northern towns such as Harrogate have
higher life expectancies than less affluent areas of the South Life expectancy at birth in England and
Wales 2012 to 2014. Lighter colours
such as Southampton or Plymouth.
indicate longer life expectancy.

Education
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.

Sport

Rugby

The sport of rugby experienced a schism in 1895 with many teams based in Yorkshire, Lancashire and
surrounding areas breaking from the Rugby Football Union and forming their own League. The
disagreement that led to the split was over the issue of professional payments, and "broken time" or injury
payments. There is a perception that league is the code of rugby played in the north, whilst union is the
code played in the south. One of the biggest derbies in Southern England is the West Country derby (Bath
v Gloucester).[10]

Football

The South Coast Derby is used to describe football matches played mainly between Portsmouth Football
Club and Southampton Football Club.

However, in Portsmouth's absence from top flight football, AFC Bournemouth and Brighton and Hove
Albion – based about 30 miles (48 km) and 60 miles (97 km) from Southampton respectively – gained
promotion to the Premier League, with some media outlets marketing fixtures against them as a South
Coast derby;[11][12][13]

Other major derbies in Southern England are West Country derbies and London derbies.[14][15]

Divisions

Regions

Southern England consists of three regions: London, South East and South West.

Ceremonial counties

In many definitions, Southern England includes many counties on/near the English Channel. Ceremonial
counties are:

Western:

Cornwall
Devon
Dorset
Somerset
Gloucestershire
Hampshire
Isle of Wight

Southern:

West Sussex
East Sussex
Kent
Berkshire
Surrey
Greater London

Eastern:

Essex
Norfolk
Suffolk

Those Counties that compose the West Country consider themselves to be of a distinctive area and history
somewhat separate to "Southern Counties", and similarly, East Anglia has a distinctive history and regional
identity.

The northern boundary is generally taken to correspond to an imaginary line from the Severn Estuary in the
West to the Wash in the East (or expressed in terms of towns, from Gloucester to King's Lynn).
Historic counties

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

Bedfordshire Huntingdonshire
Berkshire Kent
Buckinghamshire Middlesex
Cambridgeshire Norfolk
Cornwall Oxfordshire
Devon Somerset
Dorset Suffolk
Essex Surrey
Gloucestershire Sussex
Hampshire Wiltshire
Hertfordshire

See also
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

References
1. "United Kingdom, NUTS 2013" (http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/345175/7451602/nu
ts-map-UK.pdf) (PDF). Eurostat.
2. "What regions make up the North and South of England? | YouGov" (https://yougov.co.uk/top
ics/politics/articles-reports/2018/01/04/what-regions-make-north-and-south-england).
yougov.co.uk. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
3. "Eurostat - Data Explorer" (http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/submitViewTableAction.d
o). 2020. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
4. Robinson, Jonnie. "Received Pronunciation" (https://www.bl.uk/british-accents-and-dialects/
articles/received-pronunciation). British Library. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
5. "Funding boost to safeguard Cornish language announced" (https://www.gov.uk/governmen
t/news/funding-boost-to-safeguard-cornish-language-announced). GOV.UK. Retrieved
19 December 2020.
6. Maconie, Stuart (2007). Pies and Prejudice: In Search of the North (https://books.google.co
m/books?id=AFL7O5nj0bUC). Ebury Press. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-09-191022-8.
 7. Kirk, Ashley (15 September 2015). "Life expectancy increases to 81 years old - but north-
south divide remains" (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/11865790/Life-expect
ancy-increases-to-81-years-old-but-north-south-divide-remains.html). Daily Telegraph.
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20170315000932/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/he
alth/news/11865790/Life-expectancy-increases-to-81-years-old-but-north-south-divide-remai
ns.html) from the original on 15 March 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
8. Ellis, Amy; Fry, Robert (2010). "Regional health inequalities in England" (http://webarchive.n
ationalarchives.gov.uk/20160105160709/http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/regional-trends/regio
nal-trends/no--42--2010-edition/regional-health-inequalites-in-england-and-wales.pdf)
(PDF). Office for National Statistics. Archived from the original (http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/re
l/regional-trends/regional-trends/no--42--2010-edition/regional-health-inequalites-in-england
-and-wales.pdf) (PDF) on 5 January 2016. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
9. Olatunde, Olugbenga (4 November 2015). "Life Expectancy at Birth and at Age 65 by Local
Areas in England and Wales: 2012 to 2014" (https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandco
mmunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/lifeexpectancies/bulletins/lifeexpectancyatbirthandatage
65bylocalareasinenglandandwales/2015-11-04). Office of National Statistics. Archived (http
s://web.archive.org/web/20170315001636/https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcom
munity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/lifeexpectancies/bulletins/lifeexpectancyatbirthandatage6
5bylocalareasinenglandandwales/2015-11-04) from the original on 15 March 2017.
Retrieved 14 March 2017.
10. "Gloucester v Bath: The legend of the West County derby" (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rug
by-union/26994615). BBC Sport. 11 April 2014. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
11. AFC Bournemouth: What should we call the derby between Cherries and Southampton? (htt
ps://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/sport/13926409.afc-bournemouth-what-should-we-call-th
e-derby-between-cherries-and-southampton/), Bournemouth Daily Echo, 30 October 2015
12. Southampton snatch equaliser against Brighton in the south coast derby but remain in the
relegation zone (https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/southampton-
1-brighton-1-premier-league-match-report-goals-glenn-murray-jack-stephens-a8188301.htm
l?amp), The Independent, 31 January 2018
13. Bournemouth against Southampton the “other” South Coast Derby (https://bournemouth.vital
football.co.uk/bournemouth-against-southampton-the-other-south-coast-derby/), Vital
Football, 18 October 2018
14. "London derbies ranked on ferocity of rivalry, including Tottenham v Arsenal and West Ham
v Chelsea" (http://talksport.com/football/london-derbies-ranked-ferocity-rivalry-including-totte
nham-v-arsenal-and-west-ham-v-chelsea). TalkSport. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
15. "The 10 biggest rivalries in London football" (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/02/0
8/the-10-biggest-rivalries-in-london-football/tottenham-fans-at-a-match-against-arsenal/).
The Telegraph. Retrieved 22 February 2017.

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