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. South East England and London are the richest areas of the UK..
The broader governmental Region is divided into the following local government areas:
Counties
See Counties of England
Unitary Authority Areas
See Unitary authorities in England
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.
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