The East of England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It consists of the ceremonial counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. The northern part of the region, consisting of Norfolk, Suffolk, and sometimes Cambridgeshire, is known as East Anglia. The latter region has been considered an informal region in its own right due to its differing cultural identity, although some use of the term has covered all of the East of England.
The population of the East of England in was . Bedford, Luton, Basildon, Peterborough, Southend-on-Sea, Norwich, Ipswich, Colchester, Chelmsford and Cambridge are the most populous settlements. Peterborough is the largest city in the East of England at 215,000. The southern part of the region lies in the London commuter belt.
Geography
The East of England has the lowest elevation range in the UK. Twenty per cent of the region is below mean sea level, most of this in North Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and on the Essex Coast. Most of the remaining area is of low elevation, with extensive glacial deposits. The Fens, a large area of reclaimed marshland, are mostly in North Cambridgeshire. The Fens include the lowest point in the country in the village of Holme: 2.75 metres (9.0 ft) below mean sea level. This area formerly included the body of open water known as Whittlesey Mere. The highest point in the region is at Clipper Down at 817 ft (249 m) above mean sea level, in the far southwestern corner of the region in the Ivinghoe Hills.
Communities known as New Towns, responses to urban congestion and World War II destruction, appeared in Basildon and Harlow (Essex), as well as in Stevenage and Hemel Hempstead (Hertfordshire), in the 1950s and 1960s. In the late 1960s, the Roskill Commission considered Cublington in Buckinghamshire, Thurleigh in Bedfordshire, Nuthampstead in Hertfordshire and Foulness in Essex as locations for a possible third airport for London. A new airport was not built, but a former Royal Air Force base at Stansted, which had previously been converted to civilian use redeveloped and expanded in the following decades.
Historical use The East of England succeeded the standard statistical region East Anglia (which excluded Essex, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire, then in the South East). The East of England civil defence region was identical to today's region.
East Anglia with home counties Essex, despite meaning East-Saxons, previously formed part of the South East England administrative region, along with Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, a mixture of definite and debatable home counties. The earliest use of the term is from 1695. Charles Davenant, in An essay upon ways and means of supplying the war, wrote, "The Eleven Home Counties, which are thought in Land Taxes to pay more than their proportion..." then cited a list including these four. The term does not appear to have been used in taxation since the 18th century.; quoted in
Climate East Anglia is one of the driest parts of the United Kingdom, with average rainfall ranging from . The area receives such low rainfall amounts because low pressure systems and weather fronts from the Atlantic lose a lot of moisture over land (and therefore are usually much weaker) by the time they reach Eastern England.
Winter (mid-November – mid-March) is mostly cool, but non-prevailing cold easterly winds can affect the area from the continent. These can bring heavy snowfall if the winds interact with a low-pressure system over the Atlantic or France. Northerly winds also can be cold but are not usually as cold as easterly winds. Westerly winds bring milder and, typically, wetter weather. Southerly winds usually bring mild air (if from the Atlantic or North Africa) but chill if coming from further east than Spain.
Spring (mid-March – May) is a transitional season that initially can be chilly but is usually warm by late-April/May. The weather at this time is often changeable (within each day) and occasionally showery.
Summer (June – mid-September) is usually warm. Continental air from mainland Europe or the Azores High usually leads to at least a few weeks of hot, balmy weather with prolonged warm to hot temperatures. The number of summer storms from the Atlantic, such as the remnants of a tropical storm, usually coincides with the location of the jet stream. The East tends to receive much less rain than the other regions.
Autumn (mid-September – mid-November) is usually mild with some days being very unsettled and rainy and others warm. At least part of September and early October in the East have warm and settled weather, but only in rare years is there an Indian summer where fine weather marks the entire traditional harvest season.
Dust devils were reported in Essex and Cambridgeshire on 17 August 2024, causing minor injuries and some disruption. These small whirlwinds, which form from the ground up, are less powerful than tornadoes. In Essex, they caused tents and gazebos to be lifted during a local event, resulting in minor injuries. Witnesses described the event as unexpected, noting that such phenomena are rare in the area.
Demographics
Ethnicity Ethnic groupYear1991Data is taken from United Kingdom Casweb Data services of the United Kingdom 1991 Census on Ethnic Data for England (Table 6)200120112021Number%Number%Number%Number%White: Total4,891,67596.8%5,125,00395.11%5,310,19490.81%5,478,36486.5%White: British4,927,34391.44%4,986,17085.27%4,972,14978.5%White: Irish61,20855,57357,9640.9%White: Irish Traveller/Gypsy - -8,1658,9770.1%White: Roma9,6750.2%White: Other136,452260,286429,5996.8%Asian or Asian British: Total99,7202%142,1372.63%278,3724.76%405,8696.5%Asian or Asian British: Indian39,29251,03586,736136,9742.2%Asian or Asian British: Pakistani24,71338,79066,27099,4521.6%Asian or Asian British: Bangladeshi10,93418,50332,99250,6850.8%Asian or Asian British: Chinese12,49420,38533,50338,4440.6%Asian or Asian British: Asian Other12,28713,42458,87180,3141.3%Black or Black British: Total42,3100.8%48,4640.89%117,4422%184,9493%Black or Black British: African6,37316,96869,925118,7311.9%Black or Black British: Caribbean21,89226,19933,61441,8840.7%Black or Black British: Other14,0455,29713,90324,3340.4%Mixed: Total57,9841.07%112,1161.91%179,6542.8%Mixed: White and Caribbean19,88237,22251,9500.8%Mixed: White and African6,10915,38827,3760.4%Mixed: White and Asian17,38532,22651,4480.8%Mixed: Other Mixed14,60827,28048,8800.8%Other: Total21,8100.4%14,5520.27%28,8410.49%86,2321.3%Other: Arab - -10,36715,6390.2%Other: Any other ethnic group21,8100.4%14,55218,47470,5931.1%Total5,055,515100%5,388,140100%5,846,965100%6,335,068100%
Religion
+ Religion in the East of EnglandReligion202120112001NumberNumberNumberChristianity 2,955,071 46.6% 3,488,063 59.7% 3,886,778 72.1%Islam 234,744 3.7% 148,341 2.5% 78,931 1.5%Hinduism 86,631 1.4% 54,010 0.9% 31,386 0.6%Judaism 42,012 0.7% 34,830 0.6% 30,367 0.6%Buddhism 26,814 0.4% 22,273 0.4% 12,065 0.2%Sikhism 24,284 0.4% 18,213 0.3% 13,365 0.2%Other religion 36,380 0.6% 24,981 0.4% 15,471 0.3%No religion 2,544,509 40.2% 1,631,572 27.9% 902,145 16.7%Religion not stated 384,627 6.1% 424,682 7.3% 417,632 7.8%Total population 6,335,072 100% 5,846,965 100% 5,388,140 100%
Politics
Elections
In the 2015 general election there was an overall swing of 0.25% from the Conservatives to Labour and the Liberal Democrats lost 16% of its vote. All of Hertfordshire and Suffolk became Conservative. The region's electorate voted 49% Conservative, 22% Labour, 16% UKIP, 8% Liberal Democrat and 4% Green. Like other regions, the division of seats favours the dominant party in the region and the Conservatives had 52, Labour 4 (Cambridge, Luton South, Luton North and Norwich South), UKIP 1 (Clacton) and 1 Liberal Democrat (North Norfolk).
In the 2019 United Kingdom general election, the Conservatives gained Peterborough and Ipswich from Labour. They also gained North Norfolk from the Liberal Democrats but lost St Albans to Daisy Cooper.
Number of MPs returned per party, total 59 (situation at end of parliament in brackets) Affiliation 2010–15 2015–17 2017–19 2019–24 2024–present Labour Party247 (5)5 (7)27 Conservative Party525250 (46)52 (51)23 Liberal Democrats411 (2)17 Reform UK03 Green00001 The Independents000 (1)00 Independent010 (4)00
Governance and regions
East of England Plan The East of England Plan, a revision of the Regional Spatial Strategy for the East of England, was published on 12 May 2008. It was revoked on 3 January 2013.
Local government The official region consists of the following subdivisions:
Map Ceremonial countyShire county / unitary Districts Essex 1. Thurrock U.A. 2. Southend-on-Sea U.A. 3. Essex a) Harlow, b) Epping Forest, c) Brentwood, d) Basildon, e) Castle Point, f) Rochford, g) Maldon, h) Chelmsford, i) Uttlesford, j) Braintree, k) Colchester, l) Tendring 4. Hertfordshire a) Three Rivers, b) Watford, c) Hertsmere, d) Welwyn Hatfield, e) Broxbourne, f) East Hertfordshire, g) Stevenage, h) North Hertfordshire, i) St Albans, j) Dacorum Bedfordshire 5. Luton U.A. 6. Bedford U.A. 7. Central Bedfordshire U.A. Cambridgeshire 8. Cambridgeshire a) Cambridge, b) South Cambridgeshire, c) Huntingdonshire, d) Fenland, e) East Cambridgeshire 9. Peterborough U.A. 10. Norfolk a) Norwich, b) South Norfolk, c) Great Yarmouth, d) Broadland, e) North Norfolk, f) Breckland, g) King's Lynn and West Norfolk 11. Suffolk a) Ipswich, b) East Suffolk, c) Babergh, d) Mid Suffolk, e) West Suffolk
2010 Eurostat NUTS In the Eurostat Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS), the East of England was a level-1 NUTS region, coded "UKH", which was subdivided as follows:
NUTS 1 Code NUTS 2 Code NUTS 3 Code East of England UKH East Anglia UKH1 Peterborough UKH11 Cambridgeshire CC UKH12 Norfolk UKH13 Suffolk UKH14 Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire UKH2 Luton UKH21 Hertfordshire CC UKH23 Bedford UKH24 Central Bedfordshire UKH25 Essex UKH3 Southend-on-Sea UKH31 Thurrock UKH32 Essex CC UKH33
After the UK's departure from the EU, the UK NUTS regions were renamed as International Territorial Level regions in 2021.
2025 ITL Since 2025, the East of England is subdivided statistically, into five ITL 2 areas, each sub-divided into multiple ITL 3 areas, which are as follows:
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Bedford Central Bedfordshire Luton North and East Hertfordshire South West Hertfordshire Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Cambridgeshire CC Peterborough Essex Essex Haven Gateway Essex Thames Gateway Heart of Essex Southend-on-Sea Thurrock West Essex
Norfolk Breckland and South Norfolk North and West Norfolk Norwich and East Norfolk Suffolk Babergh and Mid Suffolk East Suffolk Ipswich West Suffolk
History
Civil War and the Protectorate The East of England was a major force and resource for Parliament and, in particular, in the form of the Eastern Association. Oliver Cromwell came from Huntingdon.
Second World War Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex played host to the American VIII Bomber Command and Ninth Air Force. The Imperial War Museum at Duxford has an exhibition, commemorating their participation and sacrifice, near to the M11 south of Cambridge.
Stansted Airport was RAF Stansted Mountfitchet, home to the 344th Bombardment Group. The de Havilland Mosquito was mainly assembled at Hatfield and Leavesden, although much of the innovative wooden structure originated outside the region from the furniture industry of High Wycombe; the Mosquito entered service in 1942 with 105 Sqn at RAF Horsham St Faith. RAF Tempsford in Bedford is the airfield from where SOE secret agents for Europe took off, with 138 Sqn which parachuted agents and equipment and 161 Sqn which landed and retrieved agents. 19 Sqn at Duxford was the first to be equipped with the Spitfire on 4 August 1938.
Cold War