 The modern county is bounded by Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Greater London to the south-west, Kent across the River Thames to the south, and the North Sea to the east.It has an area of , with a coastline of , and a population according to the 2011 census of 1,393,600.At the top level of local government are Essex County Council and two unitary authorities, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock.