Regions of England - wikipedia Regions of England Region Statistical regions Administrative region ( 1 ) Location England Created Number 9 Additional status NUTS 1 region European constituency Populations 2,596,886 -- 8,634,750 Areas 1,572 -- 23,829 km2 Government Local authority leaders ' board ( 6 ) Elected assembly ( 1 ) None ( 2 ) Subdivisions Non-metropolitan county ( 8 ) Metropolitan county ( 4 ) Districts of London ( 1 ) England This article is part of a series on the politics and government of England Governance Monarch Queen Elizabeth II HM Government Departments Ministers Parliament of the United Kingdom Legislative Grand Committee Constituencies Current MPs Elections West Lothian question Devolution proposals Regions East Midlands East of England London North East North West South East South West West Midlands Yorkshire and the Humber Judiciary English Law Supreme Court of the United Kingdom Judiciary Courts England in the EU UK elections to the European Parliament European Parliament constituencies in England East of England East Midlands London North East England North West England South East England South West England West Midlands Yorkshire and the Humber Local Government Ceremonial Counties Administrative Divisions Greater London London Boroughs Combined Authorities Counties Districts Unitary Authorities Civil Parishes ( list ) Unparished Area Other countries Atlas The regions of England, formerly known as the government office regions, are the highest tier of sub-national division in England. Between 1994 and 2011, nine regions had officially devolved functions within government. While they no longer fulfill this role, they continue to be used for statistical and some administrative purposes. They define areas ( constituencies ) for the purposes of elections to the European Parliament. Eurostat also uses them to demarcate first level Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics ( NUTS ) regions ( `` NUTS 1 regions '' ) within the European Union. The regions generally follow the boundaries of the former standard regions, established in the 1940s for statistical purposes. The London region ( also known as Greater London ) has a directly elected Mayor and Assembly. Six regions have local authority leaders ' boards to assist with correlating the headline policies of local authorities. The remaining two regions no longer have any administrative functions, having abolished their regional local authority leaders ' boards. In 1998, regional chambers were established in the eight regions outside London, which produced strategic plans and recommendations to local authorities. The regions also had an associated ( central ) Government Office with some responsibility for coordinating policy, and, from 2007, a part - time regional minister within the Government. House of Commons regional Select Committees were established in 2009. However, the chambers and select committees were abolished in May 2010, restoring these functions to the main tier of local government, with limited functions transferred to the regional local authority leaders ' boards created in 2009. Regional ministers were not reappointed by the incoming Coalition Government, and the Government Offices were abolished in 2011. From 2011, combined authorities have been introduced in some city regions, with similar responsibilities to the former regional chambers ( and in some cases, replacing a regional local authority leaders ' board on a smaller scale ), but which also receive additional delegated functions from central government relating to transport and economic policy. Regional development agencies were public bodies established in all nine regions in 1998 to promote economic development. They had certain delegated functions, including administering European Union regional development funds, and received funding from the central government as well. These were abolished in 2012, with statutory functions returning to local authorities and central government, however smaller scale local enterprise partnerships were voluntarily established to take on some functions relating to coordinating economic priorities and development. Contents 1 History 2 Regions as areas of administration 2.1 List of regions 3 NUTS 1 statistical regions 4 City regions 5 Subdivisions of England 6 References 7 External links History See also : Historical and alternative regions of England After about 500 AD, England comprised seven Anglo - Saxon territories -- Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Sussex and Wessex -- often referred to as the heptarchy. The boundaries of some of these, which later unified as the Kingdom of England, roughly coincide with those of modern regions. During Oliver Cromwell 's Protectorate in the 1650s, the rule of the Major - Generals created 10 regions in England and Wales of similar size to the modern regions. Proposals for administrative regions within England were mooted by the British government prior to the First World War. In 1912 the Third Home Rule Bill was passing through parliament. The Bill was expected to introduce a devolved parliament for Ireland, and as a consequence calls were made for similar structures to be introduced in Great Britain or `` Home Rule All Round ''. On 12 September the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, gave a speech in which he proposed 10 or 12 regional parliaments for the United Kingdom. Within England, he suggested that London, Lancashire, Yorkshire, and the Midlands would make natural regions. While the creation of regional parliaments never became official policy, it was for a while widely anticipated and various schemes for dividing England devised. By the 1930s, several competing systems of regions were adopted by central government for such purposes as census of population, agriculture, electricity supply, civil defence and the regulation of road traffic. In 1946 nine `` standard regions '' were set up, in which central government bodies, statutory undertakings and regional bodies were expected to cooperate. However, these had declined in importance by the late 1950s. Creation of some form of provinces or regions for England was an intermittent theme of post-Second World War British governments. The Redcliffe - Maud Report proposed the creation of eight provinces in England, which would see power devolved from central government. Edward Heath 's administration in the 1970s did not create a regional structure in the Local Government Act 1972, waiting for the Royal Commission on the Constitution, after which government efforts were concentrated on a constitutional settlement in Scotland and Wales for the rest of the decade. In England, the majority of the Commission `` suggested regional coordinating and advisory councils for England, consisting largely of indirectly elected representatives of local authorities and operating along the lines of the Welsh advisory council ''. One - fifth of the advisory councils would be nominees from central government. The boundaries suggested were the `` eight now ( in 1973 ) existing for economic planning purposes, modified to make boundaries to conform with the new county structure ''. A minority report by Lord Crowther - Hunt and Alan T. Peacock suggested instead seven regional assemblies and governments within Great Britain ( five within England ), which would take over substantial amounts of the central government. Some elements of regional development and economic planning began to be established in England from the mid-1960s onwards. In most of the standard regions, Economic Planning Councils and Boards were set up, comprising appointed members from local authorities, business, trade unions and universities, and in the early 1970s these produced a number of regional and sub-regional planning studies. These institutions continued to operate until they were abolished by the incoming Conservative government in 1979. However, by the mid-1980s local authorities in most regions had jointly established standing conferences to consider regional planning issues. Regional initiatives were bolstered by the 1986 Government Green Paper and 1989 White Paper on The Future of Development Plans, which proposed the introduction of strong regional guidance within the planning system, and by the Government 's issuing of Strategic Guidance at a regional level, from 1986 onwards. Regions as areas of administration In April 1994, the John Major ministry created a set of ten Government Office Regions for England. Prior to 1994, although various central government departments had different regional offices, the regions they used tended to be different and ad hoc. The stated purpose was as a way of co-ordinating the various regional offices more effectively : they initially involved the Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Employment, Department of Transport and the Department for the Environment. Following the Labour Party 's victory in the 1997 general election, the government created regional development agencies. Around a decade later the Labour administration also founded the Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnerships ( RIEPs ) with £ 185m of devolved funding to enhance councils ' capacity to improve and take the lead in their own improvement. The Maastricht Treaty encouraged the creation of regional boundaries for selection of members for the Committee of the Regions of the European Union : Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland had each constituted a region, but England represents such a large proportion of the population of the United Kingdom that further division was thought necessary. The English regions, which initially numbered ten, also replaced the Standard Statistical Regions. Merseyside originally constituted a region in itself, but in 1998 it was merged into the North West England region, creating the nine present - day regions. Since 1999, the nine regions have also been used as England 's European Parliament constituencies and as statistical NUTS level 1 regions. Since 1 July 2006, there have also been ten NHS Strategic Health Authorities, each of which corresponds to a region, except for South East England, which is divided into western and eastern parts. East of England London South East South West East Midlands West Midlands Yorkshire and the Humber North East North West In 1998, regional chambers were created in the eight English regions outside London under the provisions of the Regional Development Agencies Act 1998. The powers of the assemblies were limited, and members were appointed, largely by local authorities, rather than being directly elected. The functions of the English regions were essentially devolved to them from Government departments or were taken over from pre-existing regional bodies, such as regional planning conferences and regional employers ' organisations. Each assembly also made proposals for the UK members of the Committee of the Regions, with members drawn from the elected councillors of the local authorities in the region. The final nominations were made by central government. Although they were publicly funded, one of the Regional Assemblies claimed not to be a public authority and therefore not subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000. As power was to be devolved to Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales without a counterweight in England, a series of referendums were planned to establish elected regional assemblies in some of the regions. The first was held in London in 1998 and was passed. The London Assembly and Mayor of London of the Greater London Authority were created in 2000. A referendum was held in North East England on 4 November 2004, but the proposal for an elected assembly was rejected. Plans to hold further referendums in other regions were first postponed and then cancelled. A campaign for the establishment of a Cornish assembly, including a petition to the UK government in 2001, was largely ignored and no referendum was held. In 2007, a Treasury Review for new Prime Minister Gordon Brown recommended that greater powers should be given to local authorities and that the Regional Chambers should be phased out of existence by 2010. The same year, nine Regional Ministers were appointed by the incoming Gordon Brown government. Their primary goal was stated as being to improve communication between central government and the regions of England. The assemblies were effectively replaced by smaller local authority leaders ' boards between 2008 and 2010, and formally abolished on 31 March 2010, as part of a `` Sub-National Review of Economic Development and Regeneration ''. Most of their functions transferred to the relevant regional development agency and to local authority leaders ' boards. In June 2010, the incoming Coalition Government announced its intentions to abolish regional strategies and return spatial planning powers to local government. These plans include the withdrawal of funding to the existing eight Local Authority Leaders ' Boards, with their statutory functions also being assumed by local councils. The boards in most cases continue to exist as voluntary associations of council leaders, funded by the local authorities themselves. No appointments as Regional Ministers were made by the incoming UK government in 2010. These changes did not affect the directly elected London Assembly, which was established by separate legislation as part of the Greater London Authority. In 2011, Greater London remains administered by the Greater London Authority, which consists of an elected London Assembly and a separately elected Mayor of London. Following the abolition of the Government Offices in 2011, it was announced that the former Government Office Regions ( GOR ) would henceforth be known, for the purposes of statistical analysis, simply as Regions. List of regions This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( February 2017 ) Name Population 10 - year % increase ( to 2011 Census ) Area km2 Pop. density / km2 Median gross annual earnings ( £ ) 2014 % of population claiming Income Support or JSA ( August 2012 ) % as at August 2001 Largest city South East 8,634,750 7.9 % 19,095 452.20 28,629 3.0 % 5.4 % Brighton and Hove London 8,173,941 14.0 % 1,572 5199.71 35,069 5.3 % 10.1 % London North West 7,052,177 4.8 % 14,165 497.86 25,229 5.3 % 10.4 % Manchester East of England 5,846,965 8.5 % 19,120 305.80 26,830 3.5 % 6.2 % Norwich West Midlands 5,601,847 6.4 % 13,000 430.00 24,920 5.1 % 9.2 % Birmingham South West 5,288,935 7.3 % 23,829 221.95 25,571 3.3 % 6.8 % Bristol Yorkshire and the Humber 5,283,733 6.4 % 15,420 342.65 24,999 5.2 % 9.3 % Leeds East Midlands 4,533,222 8.7 % 15,627 290.09 25,027 4.2 % 7.7 % Leicester North East 2,596,886 3.2 % 8,592 302.24 24,876 6.1 % 11.6 % Newcastle upon Tyne England 53,012,456 7.88 % 130,395 406.55 27,487 4.45 % 8.32 % London NUTS 1 statistical regions Main articles : NUTS 1 statistical regions of England and NUTS statistical regions of the United Kingdom The Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics ( NUTS ) is a geocode standard for referencing the subdivisions of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland for statistical purposes. The NUTS code for the UK is UK and there are 12 first level regions within the state. Within the UK, there are 9 such regions in England, together with Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The standard is developed and regulated by the European Union ( EU ). The NUTS standard is instrumental in delivering the EU 's Structural Funds. A hierarchy of three levels is established by Eurostat. The sub-structure corresponds to administrative divisions within the country. Formerly, the further NUTS divisions ( IV and V ) existed ; these have now been replaced by Local administrative unit ( LAU - 1 and LAU - 2 respectively ). City regions Main article : City region ( United Kingdom ) In its later years the Labour government adopted the concept of city regions, regions consisting of a metropolitan area and its hinterland or Travel to Work Areas. Two such areas were considered for giving statutory powers : Greater Manchester City Region and Leeds City Region. However, this was later discontinued as a result of the May 2010 general election, although the Conservative -- Liberal Democrat coalition government did agree to the creation of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and West Yorkshire Combined Authority in 2011, with all other proposals and the regional development agencies being subsumed into the local enterprise partnerships. Subdivisions of England Main article : Subdivisions of England Local government in England does not follow a uniform structure. Therefore, each region is divided into a range of further subdivisions. London is divided into London boroughs while the other regions are divided into metropolitan counties, shire counties and unitary authorities. Counties are further divided into districts and some areas are also parished. Regions are also divided into sub-regions, which usually group socio - economically linked local authorities together. However, the sub-regions have no official status and are little used other than for strategic planning purposes. References Jump up ^ Local government geography and history, Department for Communities and Local Government. Retrieved 23 November 2016. Jump up ^ Regions ( Former GORs ), Guidance and Methodology, ONS. Retrieved 23 November 2016. Jump up ^ Department of the Official Report ( Hansard ), House of Commons, Westminster ( 27 May 2010 ). `` House of Commons Hansard Debates for 27 May 2010 ( pt 0001 ) ''. Publications.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2010 - 11 - 24. CS1 maint : Multiple names : authors list ( link ) Jump up ^ Little, Patrick ( 2012 ). `` Major - generals ( act. 1655 -- 1657 ) ''. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography ( online ed. ). Oxford University Press. doi : 10.1093 / ref : odnb / 95468. ( Subscription or UK public library membership required. ) Jump up ^ Local Parliaments For England. Mr. Churchill 's Outline of a Federal System, Ten Or Twelve Legislatures, The Times, 13 September 1912, p. 4 Jump up ^ G.K. Peatling, ' ' Home Rule for England, English Nationalism, and Edwardian Debates about Constitutional Reform ' ' in ' ' Albion : A Quarterly Journal Concerned with British Studies ' ', Vol. 35, No. 1. ( Spring, 2003 ), pp. 71 -- 90. JSTOR 4054518 Jump up ^ In 1917 the Royal Geographical Society debated a paper by C.B. Fawcett that detailed 12 provinces he considered to be the `` natural divisions of England ''. Detailed boundaries were proposed with regional capitals designated on the basis of the possession of universities or university colleges. C.B. Fawcett, Natural Divisions of England in The Geographical Journal, Vol. 49, No. 2. ( February 1917 ), pp. 124 -- 135 JSTOR 1779341 Jump up ^ In 1919 Fawcett expanded his paper into a book entitled the Provinces of England, and a similar system of regions was proposed by G.D.H. Cole in The Future of Local Government in 1921. In 1920 the Ministry of Health published its own proposals for 15 provinces, subdivided into 59 regions E.W. Gilbert, Practical Regionalism in England and Wales in The Geographical Journal, Vol. 94, No. 1. ( July 1939 ), pp. 29 -- 44. JSTOR 1788587 Jump up ^ E.W. Gilbert, ' ' Practical Regionalism in England and Wales ' ' in ' ' The Geographical Journal ' ', Vol. 94, No. 1. ( July 1939 ), pp. 29 -- 44. JSTOR 1788587 ^ Jump up to : Paul N. Balchin and Luděk Sýkora, Regional Policy and Planning in Europe, Routledge, 1999, pp. 89 -- 100 ^ Jump up to : Urlan Wannop, Regional Imperative : Regional Planning and Governance in Britain, Europe and the United States, Routledge, 2002, pp. 8 -- 30 Jump up ^ Whitehall powers would go to Scotland, Wales and regions, but no full self - government. The Times. 1 November 1973. Jump up ^ More freedom for Scots, Welsh in proposals to region regions. The Times. 1 November 1973. Jump up ^ Dissenters urge plan for seven assemblies. The Times. 1 November 1973. Jump up ^ Devolution and British Politics. Chapter 10. English regional government : Christopher Stevens Jump up ^ National Statistics -- Beginners ' guide to UK geography Jump up ^ `` United Kingdom Election Results ''. Election.demon.co.uk. Retrieved 2015 - 08 - 25. Jump up ^ `` Regional Development Agencies Act 1998 ''. Opsi.gov.uk. 1 February 2013. Retrieved 2013 - 02 - 07. Jump up ^ Committee of the Regions -- Appointing the UK delegation Archived 21 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ `` South East Regional Assembly : Policy on access to information ''. Webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk. 28 May 2010. Archived from the original on 2010 - 05 - 28. Retrieved 2013 - 02 - 07. Jump up ^ Cornish Constitutional Convention. `` Campaign for a Cornish Assembly ''. Cornishassembly.org. Retrieved 2013 - 02 - 07. Jump up ^ HM Treasury Press Release 79 / 07 -- 17 July 2007 Archived 8 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ Regional Ministers at Government Offices webpage. Retrieved 27 February 2010. Archived 18 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ eGov monitor -- Planning transfer undermines democracy. 29 November 2007 Archived 19 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ `` In Full : The projects axed or suspended by government ''. BBC News. 17 June 2010. Retrieved 2010 - 11 - 24. Jump up ^ `` Scrapping regional bureaucracy will save millions -- Newsroom -- Department for Communities and Local Government ''. Communities.gov.uk. 17 June 2010. Retrieved 2010 - 11 - 24. Jump up ^ `` 1 Horse Guards Road '' ( PDF ). Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 24 November 2010. Retrieved 2010 - 11 - 24. Jump up ^ ONS : Regions ( Former GORs ). Accessed 8 August 2012 Jump up ^ `` Regions ( Former GORs ) ''. ONS. Retrieved 2015 - 08 - 25. Jump up ^ `` ASHE 1997 to 2014 selected estimates ( Excel sheet 408Kb ) ''. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 17 December 2014. Jump up ^ Key Statistics : Population ; Quick Statistics : Economic indicators. ( 2011 census and 2001 census ) Retrieved 2015 - 02 - 27. External links Local Government Boundary Commission for England Dept of Communities and Local Government Regions of England East of England East Midlands London North East North West South East South West West Midlands Yorkshire and the Humber Administrative geography of the United Kingdom United Kingdom local government History Subdivisions : Shrievalties Lieutenancy areas Counties ( list ) England local government History Subdivisions : Regions Ceremonial counties list Metropolitan and Non-metropolitan counties Unitary authorities ( list ) Districts ( list ) Civil parishes ( list ) Northern Ireland local government History Subdivisions : Counties Districts Scotland local government History Subdivisions : Sheriffdoms Lieutenancy areas Council areas Community council areas Civil parishes Wales local government History Subdivisions : Preserved counties Principal areas Communities ( list ) Historic counties Subdivisions of England Region Regions NUTS 1 statistical regions of England Ceremonial County Ceremonial County Administrative County Metropolitan County Non-Metropolitan County Greater London District Metropolitan Borough Non-Metropolitan District London Borough Unitary Authority Unitary Authority Sui - Generis City of London Isles of Scilly Civil Parish Civil Parish Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Regions_of_England&oldid=836216979 '' Categories : Regions of England Regionalism ( politics ) in the United Kingdom Types of subdivision in the United Kingdom 1994 establishments in England 2011 disestablishments in England Former subdivisions of England Hidden categories : CS1 maint : Multiple names : authors list Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the ODNB Webarchive template wayback links All articles with dead external links Articles with dead external links from February 2017 Use dmy dates from August 2017 Use British English from February 2014 Pages using deprecated image syntax Articles needing additional references from February 2017 All articles needing additional references Talk Contents About Wikipedia Aragonés Asturianu Беларуская Български Bosanski Brezhoneg Català Čeština Cymraeg Dansk Deutsch Eesti Ελληνικά Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Français Frysk Galego 한국어 हिन्दी Hrvatski Bahasa Indonesia Italiano עברית Kiswahili Latina Lietuvių Magyar Македонски मराठी Mirandés Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Norsk nynorsk Polski Português Română Runa Simi Русский Simple English Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska ไทย Türkçe Українська اردو Tiếng Việt West - Vlams 中文 44 more Edit links This page was last edited on 13 April 2018, at 11 : 46. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: how many provinces are there in the uk
Answer: 9