# Most and least populated places in North East (2021)

County Durham was the most populated of North East’s 12 councils in 2021 (population 522,068).

Hartlepool was the least populated (92,338). The middle council, Stockton-on-Tees, had 196,595.

| Rank | Area | Population |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | [County Durham](https://openindex.co.uk/county-durham) | 522,068 |
| 2 | [Northumberland](https://openindex.co.uk/northumberland) | 320,567 |
| 3 | [Newcastle upon Tyne](https://openindex.co.uk/newcastle-upon-tyne) | 300,125 |
| 4 | [Sunderland](https://openindex.co.uk/sunderland) | 274,172 |
| 5 | [North Tyneside](https://openindex.co.uk/north-tyneside) | 208,967 |
| 6 | [Stockton-on-Tees](https://openindex.co.uk/stockton-on-tees) | 196,595 |
| 7 | [Gateshead](https://openindex.co.uk/gateshead) | 196,151 |
| 8 | [South Tyneside](https://openindex.co.uk/south-tyneside) | 147,776 |
| 9 | [Middlesbrough](https://openindex.co.uk/middlesbrough) | 143,926 |
| 10 | [Redcar and Cleveland](https://openindex.co.uk/redcar-and-cleveland) | 136,531 |
| 11 | [Darlington](https://openindex.co.uk/darlington) | 107,799 |
| 12 | [Hartlepool](https://openindex.co.uk/hartlepool) | 92,338 |

Source: Census 2021, England and Wales and Scotland's Census 2022 and Census 2021, Northern Ireland, ONS Census 2021. Period: 2021. Period: 2021.

## Other rankings of this measure

- [UK](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/population/uk)
- [England](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/population/england)
- [Northern Ireland](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/population/northern-ireland)
- [Scotland](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/population/scotland)
- [Wales](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/population/wales)
- [North West](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/population/north-west)
- [Yorkshire and The Humber](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/population/yorkshire-and-the-humber)
- [East Midlands](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/population/east-midlands)
- [West Midlands](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/population/west-midlands)
- [East of England](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/population/east-of-england)
- [London](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/population/london)
- [South East](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/population/south-east)
- [South West](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/population/south-west)

- [The map](https://openindex.co.uk/map/population)
- [Source and method](https://openindex.co.uk/sources/population)

## How to cite

Source: Open Index, openindex.co.uk. Link to this page, https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/population/north-east.

Open Index's own text and the figures it works out are licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Source data keeps its publishers' licences, named with each figure. Give each figure's period and source with it.

Snapshot 2026.10.9. The HTML page: https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/population/north-east