The West Midlands is an area of contrasts. It includes the second largest urban area in England, covering Birmingham, Solihull and the Black Country, as well as remote countryside in areas such as Shropshire and Herefordshire.
It contains areas of high deprivation, particularly in Birmingham, the Black Country, Coventry and Stoke-on-Trent, but also very prosperous areas like Solihull, South Warwickshire and the Vale of Evesham.
Map of West Midlands (view larger size)
There are many historic sites. These include the World Heritage Site at Ironbridge Gorge, the birthplace of the industrial revolution, and a rather different birthplace; William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon.
World Heritage Site of Ironbridge
The West Midlands sits at the heart of England and covers an area of 12,998 sq km, over 80% of which is rural. It covers the counties of Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire and Shropshire as well as the metropolitan boroughs.
Canalside in central Birmingham
In 2009, the population of the West Midlands was estimated to be 5.431 million - around 10.5% of the English population. Of these, 43% lived in the main West Midlands conurbation, covering Birmingham, Solihull and the Black Country.
Historically, employment in the West Midlands was dominated by manufacturing, including such famous brands as Rover, Jaguar, Wedgewood, JCB and Cadburys.
Land Rover production line, Solihull
More recently, manufacturing has declined dramatically in importance and it now accounts for around 13% of jobs, although this is still amongst the highest proportions in England. In its place, the number of people working in service industries has increased significantly and this sector is now the mainstay of the West Midlands economy.
There are 30 local authorities across the West Midlands which run many of the local services.