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	Brighton Bristol London Portsmouth Plymouth Southampton
Boroughs
Area
• Total	62,042 km2 (23,955 sq mi)
Population  (2011)
• Total	27,945,000
• Density	450/km2 (1,200/sq mi)
• Urban	22,806,000
• Rural	5,139,000
Demonym	Southerner
Time zone	GMT (UTC)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (BST)

Southern England, also known as the South of England or the South, is a sub-national part of England. Officially, it is made up of the southern, south-western and part of the eastern parts of England, consisting of the statistical regions of London, the South East, the South West and the East.^[1] Altogether, it forms a population of nearly 28 million and an area of 62,042 square kilometres (23,955 sq mi).

Southern England has cultural, economic and political differences from both the Midlands (which borders it to its north) and the North of England; the Midlands form a dialect chain in a notable north–south divide of England. The South is considerably wealthier and politically influential as opposed to the North.^[2] Within the South itself, multiple influences shape geographic and political divisions, defined by closeness to the capital; Greater London itself, its surrounding Home Counties and outer areas, as well as East Anglia and the West Country. Greater London is by far the most populous county in Southern England, followed by Hampshire, Kent and Essex. On the other hand, Bristol is the largest city in the South excluding London.