English county by size

This is a list of metropolitan counties, non-metropolitan counties and unitary authorities of England by population.

It includes those non-metropolitan counties (also known as shire counties) with a two-tier county council structure, metropolitan counties and unitary authorities.

In cases where a unitary authority has been detached from a county the population of the unitary authority is shown separately. For example, Peterborough is shown separately from the population figure for Cambridgeshire.

Figures are mid-year estimates for 2008 from the Office for National Statistics. Areas from UK Standard Area Measurements

Rank	County	Type	Region	Population	Density (people/km²)
1	Greater London		Greater London	7,611,900	4,851
2	West Midlands	metropolitan county	West Midlands	2,619,500	2,905
3	Greater Manchester	metropolitan county	North West	2,573,500	2,017
4	West Yorkshire	metropolitan county	Yorkshire and the Humber	2,200,500	1,084
5	Kent	two-tier	South East	1,406,600	397
6	Essex	two-tier	East	1,396,300	403
7	Merseyside	metropolitan county	North West	1,347,800	2,090
8	South Yorkshire	metropolitan county	Yorkshire and the Humber	1,305,900	842
9	Hampshire	two-tier	South East	1,286,000	350
10	Lancashire	two-tier	North West	1,169,100	403
11	Surrey	two-tier	South East	1,109,700	667
12	Tyne and Wear	metropolitan county	North East	1,093,400	2,025
13	Hertfordshire	two-tier	East	1,078,400	656
14	Norfolk	two-tier	East	850,800	158
15	Staffordshire	two-tier	West Midlands	828,900	316
16	West Sussex	two-tier	South East	781,600	393
17	Nottinghamshire	two-tier	East Midlands	776,500	372
18	Derbyshire	two-tier	East Midlands	762,300	299
19	Devon	two-tier	South West	754,800	115
20	Suffolk	two-tier	East	715,700	188
21	Lincolnshire	two-tier	East Midlands	698,100	118
22	Northamptonshire	two-tier	East Midlands	685,000	290
23	Leicestershire	two-tier	East Midlands	645,800	310
24	Oxfordshire	two-tier	South East	639,700	246
25	Cambridgeshire	two-tier	East	605,100	199
26	North Yorkshire	two-tier	Yorkshire and the Humber	599,300	75
27	Gloucestershire	two-tier	South West	582,500	220
28	Worcestershire	two-tier	West Midlands	557,600	320
29	Cornwall	unitary	South West	532,200	150
30	Warwickshire	two-tier	West Midlands	530,500	269
31	Somerset	two-tier	South West	525,800	152
32	East Sussex	two-tier	South East	509,800	298
33	County Durham	unitary	North East	508,500	228
34	Cumbria	two-tier	North West	496,600	73
35	Buckinghamshire	two-tier	South East	493,200	315
36	Wiltshire	unitary	South West	455,500	140
37	Bristol	unitary	South West	421,300	3,844
38	Dorset	two-tier	South West	407,800	160
39	Cheshire East	unitary	North West	361,500	310
40	East Riding of Yorkshire	unitary	Yorkshire and the Humber	335,000	139
41	Cheshire West and Chester	unitary	North West	328,600	358
42	Northumberland	unitary	North East	311,000	62
43	Leicester	unitary	East Midlands	294,700	4,020
44	Shropshire	unitary	West Midlands	292,800	92
45	Nottingham	unitary	East Midlands	292,400	3,919
46	Hull	unitary	Yorkshire and the Humber	258,700	3,621
47	South Gloucestershire	unitary	South West	257,700	519
48	Brighton & Hove	unitary	South East	256,600	3,104
49	Central Bedfordshire	unitary	East	255,000	356
50	Medway	unitary	South East	253,500	1,320
51	Plymouth	unitary	South West	252,800	3,169
52	Stoke-on-Trent	unitary	West Midlands	240,100	2,569
53	Derby	unitary	East Midlands	239,200	3,065
54	Southampton	unitary	South East	234,600	4,707
55	Milton Keynes	unitary	South East	232,200	752
56	North Somerset	unitary	South West	206,800	553
57	Portsmouth	unitary	South East	200,000	4,956
58	Warrington	unitary	North West	196,200	1,086
59	York	unitary	Yorkshire and the Humber	195,400	719
60	Swindon	unitary	South West	192,900	838
61	Stockton-on-Tees	unitary	North East	191,900	941
62	Luton	unitary	East	191,800	4,424
63	Bath and North East Somerset	unitary	South West	180,300	521
64	Herefordshire	unitary	West Midlands	179,300	82
65	Southend-on-Sea	unitary	East	164,300	3,935
66	Peterborough	unitary	East	164,000	478
67	Bournemouth	unitary	South West	163,900	3,549
68	Telford and Wrekin	unitary	West Midlands	162,100	558
69	North Lincolnshire	unitary	Yorkshire and the Humber	160,300	189
70	Wokingham	unitary	South East	159,100	889
71	North East Lincolnshire	unitary	Yorkshire and the Humber	158,200	825
72	Bedford	unitary	East	155,700	327
73	West Berkshire	unitary	South East	152,800	217
74	Thurrock	unitary	East	151,600	928
75	Reading	unitary	South East	145,700	3,607
76	Windsor and Maidenhead	unitary	South East	142,800	727
77	Blackpool	unitary	North West	141,900	4,064
78	Blackburn with Darwen	unitary	North West	140,700	1,027
79	Isle of Wight	unitary	South East	140,200	369
80	Redcar and Cleveland	unitary	North East	139,500	570
81	Middlesbrough	unitary	North East	139,000	2,580
82	Poole	unitary	South West	138,800	2,144
83	Torbay	unitary	South West	134,000	2,131
84	Slough	unitary	South East	121,200	3,724
85	Halton	unitary	North West	119,800	1,515
86	Bracknell Forest	unitary	South East	114,700	1,049
87	Darlington	unitary	North East	100,500	509
88	Hartlepool	unitary	North East	91,700	977
89	Rutland	unitary	East Midlands	39,200	103
90	Isles of Scilly	unitary	South West	2,100	128

References

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_English_counties_by_population&redirect=no
2. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_population/Mid_2008_UK_England_&_Wales_Scotland_and_Northern_Ireland_27_08_09.zip
3. http://www.ons.gov.uk/about-statistics/geography/products/geog-products-other/sam/index.html
4. http://www.thefullwiki.org/List_of_English_counties_by_population