County Durham (district)

This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (December 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

County Durham
Unitary authority area
From left to right Top: Durham Cathedral Middle: Seaham Beach and Chester-le-Street aerial Bottom: Barnard Castle and Shildon Locomotion Museum
Flag Coat of arms
Shown within ceremonial County Durham
Coordinates: 54°42′51″N 1°47′51″W / 54.7143°N 1.7976°W / 54.7143; -1.7976
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Country	England
Region	North East
Ceremonial county	County Durham
City region	North East
Created	1 April 2009
Named for	County Durham
Administrative HQ	County Hall, Durham
Government [1]
• Type	Unitary authority
• Body	Durham County Council
• Executive	Leader and cabinet
• Control	No overall control
• Leader	Amanda Hopgood (LD)
• Chair	Joan Nicholson
• MPs	6 MPs Luke Akehurst (L) Mary Kelly Foy (L) Grahame Morris (L) Sam Rushworth (L) Alan Strickland (L) Liz Twist (L)
Area [2]
• Total	859 sq mi (2,226 km2)
• Rank	11th
Population  (2022)[3]
• Total	528,127
• Rank	10th
• Density	610/sq mi (237/km2)
Ethnicity (2021) [4]
• Ethnic groups	List 96.8% White 1.5% Asian 0.9% Mixed 0.4% other 0.3% Black
Religion (2021) [4]
• Religion	List 54.6% Christianity 38.6% no religion 0.6% Islam 0.2% Buddhism 0.2% Hinduism 0.2% Sikhism 0.1% Judaism 0.4% other 5.1% not stated
Time zone	UTC+0 (GMT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (BST)
Postcode areas	DH1–99
Dialling codes	0191
ISO 3166 code	GB-DUR
GSS code	E06000047
Website	durham.gov.uk

County Durham is a local government district in the ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It is governed by Durham County Council, a unitary authority.^[5] The district has an area of 2,226 square kilometres (859 sq mi), and contains 135 civil parishes.^[6] It forms part of the larger ceremonial county of Durham, together with boroughs of Darlington, Hartlepool, and the part of Stockton-on-Tees north of the River Tees.