Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. The population in 2018 was approximately 494,814. Liverpool is the ninth-largest English district by population, and the largest in Merseyside and the surrounding region. It lies within the UK's sixth-most populous urban area, and its metropolitan area is the fifth-largest in the UK with a population of 2.24 million. The city proper, which is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside, forms an irregular crescent along the north shore of the Mersey estuary a few miles from the Irish Sea. The docklands and several areas of the historic centre of the city collectively were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2004.

Liverpool is on the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary, and historically lay within the ancient hundred of West Derby in North West England's county of Lancashire. Its growth as a major port was paralleled by the expansion of the city throughout the Industrial Revolution. Along with general cargo, freight, and raw materials such as coal and cotton, merchants were involved in the slave trade. In the 19th century, Liverpool was a major port of departure for English and Irish emigrants to North America. It was home to both the Cunard and White Star Line, and was the port of registry of the ocean liners RMS Titanic, RMS Lusitania, RMS Queen Mary, and RMS Olympic.

Liverpool is the sixth most visited UK city. It is noted for its culture, architecture, and transport links. The city is closely associated with the arts, especially music; the popularity of the Beatles, widely regarded as the most influential music group in history, contributed to the city's status as a tourist destination. Liverpool also has a long-standing reputation as the origin of various actors and actresses, artists, athletes, comedians, journalists, novelists, and poets. The city has the second-highest number of art galleries, national museums, listed buildings, and listed parks in the UK; only the capital, London, has more. The Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City includes the Pier Head, Albert Dock, and William Brown Street.

In sports, the city is best known for being the home of Premier League football clubs Liverpool and Everton, with matches between the two being known as the Merseyside derby. The annual Grand National horse race takes place at Aintree Racecourse. Several areas of the city centre were granted World Heritage Site status by UNESCO in 2004, and its collection of parks and open spaces has been described as the «most important in the country» by the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest. Its status as a port city has attracted a diverse population from a wide range of cultures and religions, primarily Ireland, Norway, and Wales. It is also home to the oldest black community in the UK and the oldest Chinese community in Europe.
 

• The world’s first passenger railway line was built in 1830, from Liverpool to nearby Manchester
• Liverpool has the largest collection of Grade II-listed buildings outside London. The city has 2,500 listed buildings and 250 public monuments
• Liverpool has Europe’s longest established Chinese community and Europe’s largest Chinese Arch which stands 14 metres over the entrance to Chinatown
• Liverpool holds the Guinness Book of Records title for being the Capital of Pop. More artists with a Liverpool origin have had a number one hit than from any other location. Liverpudlian legends The Beatles changed the face of popular music
• Liverpool is the most successful footballing city in England, home to both Liverpool and Everton. It has won 27 League championships, five European Cups, three Uefa Cups, one Cup Winners cup, 11 FA Cups, and six League Cups
• More than 60 languages are spoken in the city of Liverpool every single day 

Liverpool is governed by a Unitary Authority, as when Merseyside County Council was disbanded civic functions were returned to a district borough level. However several services such as the police and fire and rescue service, continue to be run at a county-wide level. The city also elects four members of Parliament to the Westminster Parliament. The City of Liverpool is governed by the Directly elected mayor of Liverpool and Liverpool City Council, and is one of six metropolitan boroughs that combine to make up the Liverpool City Region. The mayor is elected by the citizens of Liverpool every four years and is responsible for the day-to-day running of the council. The council's 90 elected councillors who represent local communities throughout the city, are responsible for scrutinising the mayor's decisions, setting the budget, and policy framework of the city. The mayor's responsibility is to be a powerful voice for the city both nationally and internationally, to lead, build investor confidence, and to direct resources to economic priorities.The mayor also exchanges direct dialogue with government ministers and the prime minister through his seat at the Cabinet of Mayors. The City of Liverpool effectively has two mayors. As well as the directly elected mayor, there is the ceremonial lord mayor who is elected by the full city council at its annual general meeting in May, and stands for one year in office. The lord mayor acts as the «first citizen» of Liverpool and is responsible for promoting the city, supporting local charities and community groups as well as representing the city at civic events. The Lord Mayor is Councillor Christine Banks. For local elections the city is split into 30 local council wards.

During the most recent local elections, held in May 2011, the Labour Party consolidated its control of Liverpool City Council, following on from regaining power for the first time in 12 years, during the previous elections in May 2010. The Labour Party gained 11 seats during the election, taking their total to 62 seats, compared with the 22 held by the Liberal Democrats. Of the remaining seats the Liberal Party won three and the Green Party claimed two. The main cause of the poor rating was attributed to the council's poor handling of tax-payer money, including the accumulation of a £20m shortfall on Capital of Culture funding.While Liverpool through most of the 19th and early 20th centuries was a municipal stronghold of Toryism, support for the Conservative Party recently has been among the lowest in any part of Britain, particularly since the monetarist economic policies of prime minister Margaret Thatcher after her 1979 general election victory contributed to high unemployment in the city which did not begin to fall for many years. Liverpool is one of the Labour Party's key strongholds; however the city has seen hard times under Labour governments as well, particularly in the Winter of Discontent when Liverpool suffered public sector strikes along with the rest of the United Kingdom but also suffered the particularly humiliating misfortune of having grave-diggers going on strike, leaving the dead unburied.

The City of Liverpool is one of the six constituent local government districts of the Liverpool City Region. Since 1 April 2014, some of the city's responsibilities have been pooled with neighbouring authorities within the metropolitan area and subsumed into the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. The combined authority has effectively become the top-tier administrative body for the local governance of the city region and The Mayor of Liverpool, along with the five other leaders from neighbouring local government districts, take strategic decisions over economic development, transport, employment and skills, tourism, culture, housing and physical infrastructure. As of July 2015, negotiations are currently taking place between the UK national government and the combined authority over a possible devolution deal to confer greater powers on the region. Discussions include whether to introduce an elected ‘Metro Mayor' to oversee the entire metropolitan area. Liverpool has four parliamentary constituencies entirely within the city, through which MPs are elected to represent the city in Westminster: Liverpool Riverside, Liverpool Walton, Liverpool Wavertree and Liverpool West Derby.
 

The Economy of Liverpool is one of the largest within the United Kingdom, sitting at the centre of one of the two core economies within the North West of England. In 2006, the city's GVA was £7,626 million, providing a per capita figure of £17,489, which was above the North West average. Liverpool's economy has seen strong growth since the mid-1990s, with its GVA increasing 71.8% between 1995 and 2006 and employment increasing 12% between 1998 and 2006. GDP per capita was estimated to stand at $32,121 in 2014, and total GDP at $65.8 billion.In common with much of the rest of the UK today, Liverpool's economy is dominated by service sector industries, both public and private. In 2007, over 60% of all employment in the city was in the public administration, education, health, banking, finance and insurance sectors. Over recent years there has also been significant growth in the knowledge economy of Liverpool with the establishment of the Liverpool Knowledge Quarter in sectors such as media and life sciences. Liverpool's rich architectural base has also helped the city become the second most filmed city in the UK outside London, including doubling for Chicago, London, Moscow, New York, Paris and Rome.

Another important component of Liverpool's economy are the tourism and leisure sectors. Liverpool is the sixth most visited UK city and one of the 100 most visited cities in the world by international tourists. In 2008, during the city's European Capital of Culture celebrations, overnight visitors brought £188m into the local economy,while tourism as a whole is worth approximately £1.3bn a year to Liverpool.The city's new cruise liner terminal, which is situated close to the Pier Head, also makes Liverpool one of the few places in the world where cruise ships are able to berth right in the centre of the city.[191] Other recent developments in Liverpool such as the Echo Arena and Liverpool One have made Liverpool an important leisure centre with the latter helping to lift Liverpool into the top five retail destinations in the UK.Historically, the economy of Liverpool was centred on the city's port and manufacturing base, although a smaller proportion of total employment is today derived from the port.Nonetheless the city remains one of the most important ports in the United Kingdom, handling over 32.2m tonnes of cargo in 2008.A new multimillion-pound expansion to the Port of Liverpool, Liverpool2, is scheduled to be operational from the end of 2015, and is projected to greatly increase the volume of cargo which Liverpool is able to handle. Liverpool is also home to the UK headquarters of many shipping lines including Japanese firm NYK and Danish firm Maersk Line, whilst shipping firm Atlantic Container Line has recently invested significant amounts in expanding its Liverpool operations, with a new headquarters currently under construction. Future plans to redevelop the city's northern dock system, in a project known as Liverpool Waters, could see £5.5bn invested in the city over the next 50 years, creating 17,000 new jobsCar manufacturing also takes place in the city at the Jaguar Land Rover Halewood plant where the Range Rover Evoque model is assembled.
 

Transport in Liverpool is primarily centred on the city's road and rail networks, both of which are extensive and provide links across the United Kingdom. Liverpool has an extensive local public transport network, which is managed by Merseytravel, and includes buses, trains and ferries. Additionally, the city also has an international airport and a major port, both of which provides links to locations outside the country. As a major city, Liverpool has direct road links with many other areas within England. To the east, the M62 motorway connects Liverpool with Hull and along the route provides links to several large cities, including Manchester, Leeds and Bradford. The M62 also provides a connection to both the M6 and M1 motorways, providing indirect links to more distant areas including Birmingham, London, Nottingham, Preston and Sheffield. To the west of the city, the Kingsway and Queensway Tunnels connect Liverpool with the Wirral Peninsula, including Birkenhead, and Wallasey. The A41 road and M53 motorway, which both begin in Birkenhead, link to Cheshire and Shropshire and via the A55, to North Wales. To the south, Liverpool is connected to Widnes and Warrington via the A562 and across the River Mersey to Runcorn, via the Silver Jubilee and Mersey Gateway bridges.

Liverpool is served by two separate rail networks. The local rail network is managed and run by Merseyrail and provides links throughout Merseyside and beyond , while the national network, which is managed by Network Rail, provides Liverpool with connections to major towns and cities across the England. The Port of Liverpool is one of Britain's largest ports, providing passenger ferry services across the Irish Sea to Belfast, Dublin and the Isle of Man. Services are provided by several companies, including the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, P&O Ferries and Stena Line. In 2007, a new cruise terminal was opened in Liverpool, located alongside the Pier Head in the city centre. November 2016 saw the official opening of Liverpool2, an extension to the port that allows post-Panamax vessels to dock in Liverpool.Leeds and Liverpool Canal runs into Liverpool city centre via Liverpool Canal Link at Pier Head since 2009.Liverpool Cruise Terminal in the city centre provides long distance passenger cruises, Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines MS Black Watch and Cruise & Maritime Voyages MS Magellan using the terminal to depart to Iceland, France, Spain and Norway.Liverpool John Lennon Airport, which is located in the south of the city, provides Liverpool with direct air connections across the United Kingdom and Europe. In 2008, the airport handled over 5.3 million passengers and today offers services to 68 destinations, including Berlin, Rome, Milan, Paris, Barcelona and Zürich. The airport is primarily served by low-cost airlines, notably Ryanair and Easyjet, although it does provide additional charter services in the summer.

Liverpool's local rail network is one of the busiest and most extensive in the country. The network consists of three lines: the Northern Line, which runs to Southport, Ormskirk, Kirkby and Hunts Cross; the Wirral Line, which runs through the Mersey Railway Tunnel and has branches to New Brighton, West Kirby, Chester and Ellesmere Port; and the City Line, which begins at Lime Street, providing links to St Helens, Wigan, Preston, Warrington and Manchester.

Local services on the City Line are operated by Northern rather than Merseyrail, although the line itself remains part of the Merseyrail network. Within the city centre the majority of the network is underground, with four city centre stations and over 6.5 miles of tunnels.Local bus services within and around Liverpool are managed by Merseytravel and are run by several different companies, including Arriva and Stagecoach. The two principal termini for local buses are Queen Square Bus Station for services north and east of the city, and Liverpool One Bus Station formerly known as Paradise Street Bus Interchange for services to the south and east. Cross-river services to the Wirral use roadside terminus points in Castle Street and Sir Thomas Street. A night bus service also operates on Saturdays providing services from the city centre across Liverpool and Merseyside. City Sights and City explorer by Maghull coaches offer a tour bus service. National Express also operates.

The cross river ferry service in Liverpool, known as the Mersey Ferry, is managed and operated by Merseytravel, with services operating between the Pier Head in Liverpool and both Woodside in Birkenhead and Seacombe in Wallasey. Services operate at intervals ranging from 20 minutes at peak times, to every hour during the middle of the day and during weekends. Despite remaining an important transport link between the city and the Wirral Peninsula, the Mersey Ferry has become an increasingly popular tourist attraction within the city, with daytime River Explorer Cruises providing passengers with an historical overview of the River Mersey and surrounding areas.In May 2014, the CityBike hire scheme was launched in the city.