Birmingham is a major city and metropolitan borough of West Midlands, England lying on the River Rea, a small river that runs through Birmingham. It is the largest and most populous British city outside London, with a population in 2014 of 1,101,360. The city is in the West Midlands Built-up Area, the third most populous urban area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2,440,986 at the 2011 census. Birmingham's metropolitan area is the second most populous in the UK with a population of 3.8 million. This also makes Birmingham the 8th most populous metropolitan area in Europe.