Question: What is the population rank of the official region of England which has the town of St Helens ? 
Context: The St Helens Reporter is a weekly paid-for newspaper in St Helens, Merseyside, England.  The Reporter is competing with the more traditional "St Helens Star" as the number one paper in the town. The Sankey Canal, which is also known as the Sankey Brook Navigation and the St Helens Canal, historically entirely within Lancashire is a canal now in Cheshire, extending into Merseyside, in the northwest of England, connecting St Helens with the River Mersey at Spike Island.  When opened in 1757, it ran along the valley of the Sankey Brook from the point where the brook joined the Mersey, past Warrington to Parr at the north east of what became St Helens town centre.  Extensions were constructed at the Mersey end of the canal, firstly to Fiddlers Ferry and then to Widnes, while at the northern end, it was extended into Sutton, close to what became the centre of St Helens.  The canal was gradually abandoned between 1931 and 1963, but has been the object of a restoration attempt since 1985, when the Sankey Canal Restoration Society was formed. The Statue of Queen Victoria stands on the western side of Victoria Square, St Helens, Merseyside, England.  It was created after the death of Queen Victoria and given to the town by Colonel William Windle Pilkington, mayor of St Helens in 1902, and a member of the Pilkington glass manufacturers in the town.  Pilkington commissioned George Frampton to design it.  Frampton used the same model for the figure of the queen for two other statues, but placed it on thrones and pedestals of different designs.  The St Helens statue was unveiled by the Earl of Derby in 1905.  Originally placed in the centre of Victoria Square, it was moved to a position on the west side of the square in 2000.  The statue is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway, later known as St Helens Railway, was an early railway company in Lancashire, England, which opened in 1833.  It ran originally from the town of St Helens to the area which would later develop into the town of Widnes.  Branches were opened to Garston, Warrington and Rainford.  The company was taken over by the London and North Western Railway in 1864.  The line from St Helens to Widnes and the branch to Rainford are now closed, the latter terminating at the Pilkington Glass' Cowley Hill works siding near Gerard's Bridge, but part of the lines to Garston and to Warrington are still in operation. St Helens is a district in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, Merseyside, England.  The unparished area contains 67 buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England as designated listed buildings. Of these, one is listed at Grade I, the highest grade, four are listed at Grade II*, the middle of the three grades, and the others are at Grade II, the lowest grade.  The main town in the district is St Helens, the others being Newton-le-Willows and Earlestown.  Until the Industrial Revolution, the area was largely rural.  Coal mining began in the 16th century, but modern industrial development began with the construction of the Sankey Canal in the late 18th century, linking St Helens with the River Mersey.  The early 19th century saw new industries, including copper smelting, production of alkali, and the manufacture of glass.  Of these, the major industry was glass making, the main business being that of Pilkingtons.  The first major railway line in the world, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway was built through the district, opening in 1830. The Metropolitan Borough of St Helens is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside, in North West England.  It is named after its largest town St Helens, and covers an area which includes the settlements of Sutton, St Helens, Earlestown, Rainhill, Eccleston, Clock Face, Haydock, Billinge, Rainford and Newton-le-Willows. North West England, one of nine official regions of England, consists of the five counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside.  The North West had a population of 7,052,000 in 2011.  It is the third most populated region in the United Kingdom after the South East and Greater London. St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council is the local authority of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens in Merseyside.  It is a metropolitan district council, one of five in Merseyside and one of 36 in the metropolitan counties of England, and provides the majority of local government services in St Helens.  It is a constituent council of Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. St Helens ended 2010 with yet another Grand Final defeat, their fourth in a row, to bitter rivals Wigan.  It was evident that the personnel at the club, combined with the suitability of Mick Potter's position had become surplus to requirements at St Helens, and widespread changes took place.  Potter announced mid-2010 that he would be leaving for Bradford Bulls, his replacement, Royce Simmons; someone who had worked under Tim Sheens for many years at Wests Tigers and with the Australian national side.  The very fact that St Helens had been, in many fans' eyes 'reduced' to looking for assistant coaches in the NRL drew a little bit of criticism, but overall, the feeling was positive over Simmons' appointment.  The coach would not be the only change either.  Club legend Keiron Cunningham retired from playing at the age of 33, after 16 years of paying first team rugby for St Helens, with centre Matt Gidley doing likewise, and returning to Australia.  A number of others were to leave too; a combination of age and not being good enough for squad selection under Simmons costing the St Helens careers of 12 of the 2010 squad, most notably, arguably, Maurie Fa'asavalu, who switched codes with Harlequins.  The influx was far fewer than the outgoing numbers during the transfer period, with only three names coming into the squad for 2011 from other clubs; these being prop Josh Perry, England centre Michael Shenton, and fellow England cap and prop Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, from Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, Castleford Tigers and respectively.  There were also four new faces in the first team by means of the reserve and academy system at St Helens.  Pre-season fixtures announced included a game against Huddersfield Giants at the Halton Stadium on 29 January and the Karalius Cup game against Widnes, again at the Stobart, on the 23rd. St Helens (   ) is a large town in Merseyside, England.  It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens with a population of 102,629, while the entire metropolitan borough had a population of 176,843 at the 2001 Census.  St Helens makes up part of the wider Liverpool/Birkenhead Metropolitan Area.
Answer: the third most populated