List of counties of England by population in 1971

This is a list of counties of England, ordered by population as at the 1971 census. The figures presented here include all the administrative counties with their associated county boroughs. York is accounted for as part of the West Riding, and Lincoln as part of Kesteven.

Rank	County	Total population
1	Greater London	7,452,343
2	Lancashire	5,118,405
3	Yorkshire, West Riding	3,785,013
4	Warwickshire	2,082,230
5	Staffordshire	1,858,348
6	Hampshire	1,565,476
7	Cheshire	1,546,397
8	Durham	1,409,633
9	Kent	1,399,471
10	Essex	1,358,020
11	Gloucestershire	1,076,710
12	Surrey	1,002,892
13	Nottinghamshire	976,403
14	Hertfordshire	924,641
15	Devon	898,409
16	Derbyshire	885,130
17	Northumberland	795,754
18	Leicestershire	772,103
19	Sussex, East	747,976
20	Yorkshire, North Riding	725,656
21	Worcestershire	693,251
22	Somerset	682,665
23	Berkshire	636,860
24	Norfolk	617,621
25	Buckinghamshire	587,556
26	Yorkshire, East Riding	543,309
27	Sussex, West	492,500
28	Wiltshire	486,755
29	Lincolnshire, Parts of Lindsey	470,905
30	Northamptonshire	468,625
31	Bedfordshire	464,286
32	Cornwall	381,665
33	Oxfordshire	381,584
34	Suffolk, East	381,464
35	Dorset	361,925
36	Shropshire	337,104
37	Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely	303,042
38	Cumberland	292,187
39	Lincolnshire, Parts of Kesteven	232,549
40	Huntingdon and Peterborough	202,622
41	Suffolk, West	164,732
42	Herefordshire	138,638
43	Isle of Wight	109,515
44	Lincolnshire, Parts of Holland	105,685
45	Westmorland	72,837
46	Rutland	27,471
TOTAL		46,018,363

References

• 1971 census