Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.55 million. It was created as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. The county consists of ten metropolitan boroughs, including the City of Manchester and the City of Salford.

Greater Manchester is landlocked, and as a ceremonial county borders Cheshire, Derbyshire, West Yorkshire, Lancashire and Merseyside. The Greater Manchester Urban Area is the United Kingdom's third most populous conurbation, and spans across most of the county's territory.

Greater Manchester County Council was abolished in 1986, and so its districts (the metropolitan boroughs) are now effectively unitary authorities. However, the metropolitan county, which is some 492.7 square miles (1,276 km²), continues to exist in law and as a geographic frame of reference.

Prior to the creation of the metropolitan county, the name SELNEC was used for the area from the initials 'South East Lancashire North East Cheshire'. Parts of the historic counties of Lancashire, Cheshire and Yorkshire covered the area that is now Greater Manchester.