South East England is one of the official regions of England. The current boundaries are shown on the map below. Until the late 1990s the counties of Essex, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire were also included for official purposes.

In unofficial usage the South East can refer to a varying area - sometimes only to Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, and Surrey. But the most widely used sense is perhaps the larger defunct official designation referred to above, which corresponded very approximately to the London commuter belt.

The broader governmental Region is divided into the following local government areas:

South East
Admin HQ	Guildford
Area  - Total	3rd in England 19,096 km²
Population  - Total (2001)  - Density	1st in England 8,000,550 419/km²
NUTS 1:	UKJ

Counties

See Counties of England

• Berkshire*
• Buckinghamshire
• East Sussex
• Hampshire
• Isle of Wight
• Kent
• Oxfordshire
• Surrey
• West Sussex

Unitary Authority Areas

See Unitary authorities in England

• Bracknell Forest (formerly part of Berkshire)
• Brighton and Hove (formerly part of East Sussex)
• Medway (formerly part of Kent)
• Milton Keynes (formerly part of Buckinghamshire)
• Portsmouth (formerly part of Hampshire)
• Reading, Berkshire (formerly part of Berkshire)
• Slough (formerly part of Berkshire)
• Southampton (formerly part of Hampshire)
• West Berkshire (formerly part of Berkshire)
• Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (formerly part of Berkshire)
• Wokingham (formerly part of Berkshire)

Local Dialects

Traditionally the middle class inhabitants of the South East have spoken received pronunciation (also known as "RP", BBC English and Queen's English. Nowadays a form of the English language influenced by working class London accents and known as Estuary English is more prevalent in the region, even among the higher social classes. The name derives from the estuary of the River Thames which runs through East London and past Essex and Kent, which is the area where this accent is said to have originated.

External links

• Government Office for the South East (http://www.go-se.gov.uk/)
• South East England Regional Assembly (http://www.southeast-ra.gov.uk/)
• South East England Development Agency (http://www.seeda.co.uk/)