Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.55 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the cities of Salford and Manchester. Greater Manchester was created on 1 April 1974 as a result of the Local Government Act 1972. a.html" target="_blank">Local Government Finance Statistics England No.16. Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Retrieved on 21 February 2008.

Greater Manchester is landlocked, and as a ceremonial county borders Cheshire (to the south-west and south), Derbyshire (to the south-east), _West Yorkshire (to the north-east), Lancashire (to the north) and Merseyside (to the west). 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 authority areas. However, the metropolitan county, which is some , continues to exist in law and as a geographic frame of reference. • • Several county-wide services are co-ordinated via the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities.

Before the creation of the metropolitan county, the name SELNEC was used for the area, taken from the initials of "South East Lancashire North East Cheshire". Greater Manchester is an amalgamation of 70 former local government districts from the former administrative counties of Lancashire, Cheshire and Yorkshire, West Riding and several independent county boroughs.