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| Country information - United Kingdom |
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The present United Kingdom is the latest of several unions formed over the last 840 years. Scotland and England have existed as separate political entities since the 9th century. Wales, under the control of English monarchs from the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284, became part of the Kingdom of England by the Laws in Wales Act 1535.
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With the Act of Union 1707, the independent states of England and Scotland, having been in personal union since 1603, agreed to a political union as the Kingdom of Great Britain. In 1800 The Act of Union united the Kingdom of Great Britain with the Kingdom of Ireland, which had been gradually brought under English control between 1169 and 1691, to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
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Independence for the now Republic of Ireland in 1922 brought the partition of the island of Ireland, with six of the nine counties of the province of Ulster remaining within the UK, hich changed to the current name in 1929 in recognition.
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As the dominant industrial and maritime power of the 19th century the United Kingdom played a leading role in developing parliamentary democracy and in advancing literature and science. The British Empire once stretched over one-fourth of the earth's surface.
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During the first half of the 20th century the UK strength seriously depleted in two World Wars. During the second half of the 20the century the UK witnessed the dismantling of the Empire and the UK started rebuilding itself into a modern and prosperous European nation.
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As one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council, a founding member of NATO, and of the Commonwealth, the UK pursues a global approach to foreign policy. A member of the EU, it has not chosen to adopt the Euro as domestic political opinions run strongly against it.
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| Location |
Western Europe, islands including the northern one-sixth of the island of Ireland between the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea, northwest of France |
| Area |
total: 244,820 sq km |
| Land |
241,590 sq km |
| Water |
3,230 sq km |
| Land boundaries |
total: 360 km |
| Border countries |
Ireland 360 km |
| Coastline |
12,429 km |
| Climate |
temperate; moderated by prevailing southwest winds over the North Atlantic Current; more than one-half of the days are overcast |
| Terrain |
mostly rugged hills and low mountains; level to rolling plains in east and southeast |
| Elevation extremes |
lowest point: The Fens -4 m |
| highest point |
Ben Nevis 1,343 m |
| Natural resources |
coal, petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, lead, zinc, gold, tin, limestone, salt, clay, chalk, gypsum, potash, silica sand, slate, arable land |
| Natural hazards |
winter windstorms; floods |
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| Population |
60,441,457 |
| Nationality |
noun: Briton(s), British (collective plural) |
| Adjective |
British |
| Ethnic groups |
white (English 83.6%, Scottish 8.6%, Welsh 4.9%, Northern Irish 2.9%) 92.1%, black 2%, Indian 1.8%, Pakistani 1.3%, mixed 1.2%, other 1.6% |
| Religions |
Christian (Anglican, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist) 71.6%, Muslim 2.7%, Hindu 1%, other 1.6%, unspecified or none 23.1% |
| Languages |
English, Welsh (about 26% of the population of Wales), Scottish form of Gaelic (about 60,000 in Scotland) |
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Government |
United Kingdom |
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| Country name |
conventional long form: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; note - Great Britain includes England, Scotland, and Wales |
| Conventional short form |
United Kingdom |
| Abbreviation |
UK |
| Government type |
constitutional monarchy |
| Capital |
London |
| Administrative divisions |
England - 47 boroughs, 36 counties, 29 London boroughs, 12 cities and boroughs, 10 districts, 12 cities, 3 royal boroughs |
| Boroughs |
Barnsley, Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool, Bolton, Bournemouth, Bracknell Forest, Brighton and Hove, Bury, Calderdale, Darlington, Doncaster, Dudley, Gateshead, Halton, Hartlepool, Kirklees, Knowsley, Luton, Medway, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, North Tyneside, Oldham, Poole, Reading, Redcar and Cleveland, Rochdale, Rotherham, Sandwell, Sefton, Slough, Solihull, Southend-on-Sea, South Tyneside, St. Helens, Stockport, Stockton-on-Tees, Swindon, Tameside, Thurrock, Torbay, Trafford, Walsall, Warrington, Wigan, Wirral, Wolverhampton |
| Counties |
Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Cornwall, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Devon, Dorset, Durham, East Sussex, Essex, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Northumberland, North Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Shropshire, Somerset, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Warwickshire, West Sussex, Wiltshire, Worcestershire |
| London boroughs |
Barking and Dagenham, Barnet, Bexley, Brent, Bromley, Camden, Croydon, Ealing, Enfield, Greenwich, Hackney, Hammersmith and Fulham, Haringey, Harrow, Havering, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Islington, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Newham, Redbridge, Richmond upon Thames, Southwark, Sutton, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Wandsworth |
| Cities and boroughs |
Birmingham, Bradford, Coventry, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Salford, Sheffield, Sunderland, Wakefield, Westminster |
| Districts |
Bath and North East Somerset, East Riding of Yorkshire, North East Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire, North Somerset, Rutland, South Gloucestershire, Telford and Wrekin, West Berkshire, Wokingham |
| Cities |
City of Bristol, Derby, City of Kingston upon Hull, Leicester, City of London, Nottingham, Peterborough, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Southampton, Stoke-on-Trent, York |
| Royal boroughs |
Kensington and Chelsea, Kingston upon Thames, Windsor and Maidenhead |
| Northern Ireland |
24 districts, 2 cities, 6 counties |
| Districts |
Antrim, Ards, Armagh, Ballymena, Ballymoney, Banbridge, Carrickfergus, Castlereagh, Coleraine, Cookstown, Craigavon, Down, Dungannon, Fermanagh, Larne, Limavady, Lisburn, Magherafelt, Moyle, Newry and Mourne, Newtownabbey, North Down, Omagh, Strabane |
| Cities |
Belfast, Derry |
| Counties |
County Antrim, County Armagh, County Down, County Fermanagh, County Londonderry, County Tyrone |
| Scotland |
32 council areas: Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, The Scottish Borders, Clackmannanshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Dundee City, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Lothian, East Renfrewshire, City of Edinburgh, Falkirk, Fife, Glasgow City, Highland, Inverclyde, Midlothian, Moray, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Orkney Islands, Perth and Kinross, Renfrewshire, Shetland Islands, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire, Stirling, West Dunbartonshire, Eilean Siar (Western Isles), West Lothian; |
| Wales |
11 county boroughs, 9 counties, 2 cities and counties |
| County boroughs |
Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Caerphilly, Conwy, Gwynedd, Merthyr Tydfil, Neath Port Talbot, Newport, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Torfaen, Wrexham |
| Counties |
Isle of Anglesey, Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Monmouthshire, Pembrokeshire, Powys, The Vale of Glamorgan |
| Cities and counties |
Cardiff, Swansea |
| Dependent areas |
Anguilla, Bermuda, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Man, Montserrat, Pitcairn Islands, Saint Helena and Ascension, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands |
| Independence |
England has existed as a unified entity since the 10th century. |
| National holiday |
the UK does not celebrate one particular national holiday |
| Constitution |
unwritten; partly statutes, partly common law and practice |
| Legal system |
common law tradition with early Roman and modern continental influences; has nonbinding judicial review of Acts of Parliament under the Human Rights Act of 1998; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations |
| Suffrage |
18 years of age; universal |
| Executive branch |
chief of state: Queen Elizabeth II (since 6 February 1952); Heir Apparent Prince Charles (son of the queen, born 14 November 1948) |
| head of government |
Prime Minister Anthony (Tony) Blair (since 2 May 1997) |
| Cabinet |
Cabinet of Ministers appointed by the prime minister |
| Elections |
none; the monarchy is hereditary; following legislative Elections, the leader of the majority party or the leader of the majority coalition is usually the prime minister |
| Legislative branch |
bicameral Parliament comprised of House of Lords (consists of approximately 500 life peers, 92 hereditary peers and 26 clergy) and House of Commons (646 seats since 2005 elections; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms unless the House is dissolved earlier) |
| elections |
House of Lords - no elections. House of Commons - last held 5 May 2005 (next to be held by May 2010) |
| Judicial branch |
House of Lords (highest court of appeal; several Lords of Appeal in Ordinary are appointed by the monarch for life); Supreme Courts of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland (comprising the Courts of Appeal, the High Courts of Justice, and the Crown Courts); Scotland's Court of Session and Court of the Justiciary |
| Flag description |
blue field with the red cross of Saint George (patron saint of England) edged in white superimposed on the diagonal red cross of Saint Patrick (patron saint of Ireland), which is superimposed on the diagonal white cross of Saint Andrew (patron saint of Scotland); properly known as the Union Flag, but commonly called the Union Jack; the design and colors (especially the Blue Ensign) have been the basis for a number of other flags including other Commonwealth countries and their constituent states or provinces, as well as British overseas territories |
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The UK, a leading trading power and financial center, has an essentially capitalist economy. Over the past two decades the government has greatly reduced public ownership and contained the growth of social welfare programs. Agriculture is intensive, highly mechanized, and efficient by European standards, producing about 60% of food needs with less than 2% of the labor force. The UK has large coal, natural gas, and oil reserves; primary energy production accounts for 10% of GDP, one of the highest shares of any industrial nation.
Services, particularly banking, insurance, and business services, account by far for the largest proportion of GDP while industry continues to decline in importance. Industry continues to decline in importance, although the UK is still Europe's largest manufacturer of armaments, petroleum products, personal computers, televisions, and mobile telephones. Tourism is also important: with over 24 million tourists a year, the United Kingdom is ranked as the sixth major tourist destination in the world, between China (33) and Austria (19.1).
The relatively good economic performance has complicated the BLAIR government's efforts to make a case for Britain to join the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Critics point out that the economy is doing well outside of EMU.
| Labor force |
30.07 million |
| Labor force - by occupation |
agriculture 1.5%, industry 19.1%, services 79.5% |
| Unemployment rate |
4.7% |
| Population below poverty line |
17% Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 2.1%, highest 10%: 28.5% (1999) |
| Currency (code) |
British pound (GBP) |
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Transportation |
United Kingdom |
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| Airports |
471 |
| Airports - with paved runways |
total: 334 |
| Airports - with unpaved runways |
total: 137 |
| Heliports |
11 |
| Railways |
total: 17,274 km |
| Roadways |
total: 392,931 km |
| Paved |
392,931 km (including 3,431 km of expressways) |
| Unpaved |
0 km (2003) |
| Waterways |
3,200 km (620 km used for commerce)) |
| Ports and terminals |
Hound Point, Immingham, Milford Haven, Liverpool, London, Southampton, Sullom Voe, Teesport |
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©
Copyright 2006 Eurobusinessonline.com |
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