Map of United Kingdom | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
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Background: Britain, the dominant industrial and maritime power of the nineteenth century, played a leading role in developing parliamentary democracy and in advancing literature and science. The British Empire covered approximately one-fourth of the earth's surface at its zenith. In the first half of the twentieth century its strength was seriously depleted by two world wars. Since the end of World War II, the British Empire has been dismantled, and Britain has rebuilt itself into a prosperous, modern European nation with significant international political, cultural, and economic influence.


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Location

Geographic coordinates

Map reference

Area

Land boundaries: Ireland 360 km

Coastline: 12,429 km

Maritime claims
Continental shelf: 200 meters or to depth of exploitation
Exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm
Territorial sea: 3 nm

Climate: temperate; moderated by prevailing southwest winds over the North Atlantic Current; more than half of the days are overcast

Terrain: mostly rugged hills and low mountains; level to rolling plains in east and southeast

Elevation

Natural resources: coal, crude oil, natural gas, tin, limestone, iron ore, salt, clay, chalk, gypsum, lead, silica

Land use: 29% arable land; NEGL% permanent crops; 48% meadows and pastures; 9% forest and woodland; 14% other; includes 1% irrigated

Irrigated land

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards

Geography
Note: lies near vital North Atlantic sea lanes; only 35 km from France


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Population: 57,028,169 (July 1989), growth rate 0.2% (1989)

Nationality: noun - Briton(s), British (collective pl.; adjective - British

Ethnic groups: 81.5% English, 9.6% Scottish, 2.4% Irish, 1.9% Welsh, 1.8% Ulster, 2.8% West Indian, Indian, Pakistani, and other

Languages: English, Welsh (about 26% of population of Wales), Scottish form of Gaelic (about 60,000 in Scotland)

Religions: 27.0 million Anglican, 5.3 million Roman Catholic, 2.0 million Presbyterian, 760,000 Methodist, 410,000 Jewish

Demographic profile

Age structure

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate

Birth rate: 13 births/1000 population (1989)

Death rate: 12 deaths/1000 population (1989)

Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1000 population (1989)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: pollution control measures improving air, water quality; because of heavily indented coastline, no location is more than 125 km from tidal waters

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 9 deaths/1000 live births (1989)

Life expectancy at birth: 72 years male, 78 years female (1989)

Total fertility rate: 1.8 children born/woman (1989)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access

Hiv/Aids

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy: 99%

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name: conventional long form: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; abbreviated UK

Government type: constitutional monarchy

Capital: London

Administrative divisions: 47 counties, 7 metropolitan counties, 26 districts, 9 regions, and 3 islands areas England - 39 counties, 7 metropolitan counties*; Avon, Bedford, Berkshire, Buckingham, Cambridge, Cheshire, Cleveland, Cornwall, Cumbria, Derby, Devon, Dorset, Durham, East Sussex, Essex, Gloucester, Greater London*, Greater Manchester*, Hampshire, Hereford and Worcester, Hertford, Humberside, Isle of Wight, Kent, Lancashire, Leicester, Lincoln, Merseyside*, Norfolk, Northampton, Northumberland, North Yorkshire, Nottingham, Oxford, Shropshire, Somerset, South Yorkshire*, Stafford, Suffolk, Surrey, Tyne and Wear*, Warwick, West Midlands*, West Sussex, West Yorkshire*, Wiltshire Northern Ireland - 26 districts; Antrim, Ards, Armagh, Ballymena, Ballymoney, Banbridge, Belfast, Carrickfergus, Castlereagh, Coleraine, Cookstown, Craigavon, Down, Dungannon, Fermanagh, Larne, Limavady, Lisburn, Londonderry, Magherafelt, Moyle, Newry and Mourne, Newtownabbey, North Down, Omagh, Strabane Scotland - 9 regions, 3 islands areas*; Borders, Central, Dumfries and Galloway, Fife, Grampian, Highland, Lothian, Orkney*, Shetland*, Strathclyde, Tayside, Western Isles* Wales - 8 counties; Clwyd, Dyfed, Gwent, Gwynedd, Mid Glamorgan, Powys, South Glamorgan, West Glamorgan

Dependent areas: (15) Anguilla, Bermuda, British Indian Ocean Territory, British U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Hong Kong (scheduled to become a Special Administrative Region of China in 1997), Jersey, Isle of Man, Montserrat, Pitcairn Islands, St. Helena, Turks and Caicos Islands

Independence: 1 January 1801, United Kingdom established

National holiday: Celebration of the Birthday of the Queen (second Saturday in June), 10 June 1989

Constitution: unwritten; partly statutes, partly common law and practice

Legal system: common law tradition with early Roman and modern continental influences; no judicial review of Acts of Parliament; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: universal over age 18

Executive branch

Legislative branch: Royal Navy (includes Royal Marines), Army, Royal Air Force

Judicial branch

Political parties and leaders

International organization participation: ADB, CCC, CENTO, Colombo Plan, Council of Europe, DAC, EC, ESCAP, ESA, FAO, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAC, ICAO, ICES, ICO, IDA, IDB - Inter-American Development Bank, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IHO, ILO, ILZSG, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOOC, IPU, IRC, ISO, ITC, ITU, IWC - International Whaling Commission, IWC - International Wheat Council, NATO, OECD, UN, UPU, WEU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WSG

Diplomatic representation
In the us: Ambassador Sir Antony ACLAND; Chancery at 3,100 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington DC 20,008; telephone (202) 462-1340; there are British Consulates General in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco, and Consulates in Dallas, Miami, and Seattle; US - Ambassador Charles H. PRICE, II; Embassy at 24/31 Grosvenor Square, London, W.1A1AE, (mailing address is Box 40, FPO New York 9,509; telephone Õ44å (01) 499-9,000; there are US Consulates General in Belfast and Edinburgh

Flag description: blue with the red cross of St. George (patron saint of England) edged in white superimposed on the diagonal red cross of St. Patrick (patron saint of Ireland) which is superimposed on the diagonal white cross of St. Andrew (patron saint of Scotland; known as the Union Flag or Union Jack; the design and colors (especially the Blue Ensign) have been the basis for a number of other flags including dependencies, Commonwealth countries, and others

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage


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Economy overview: The UK is one of the world's great trading powers and financial centers, and its economy ranks among the four largest in Europe. Agriculture is intensive, highly mechanized, and efficient by European standards, producing about 60% of food needs with only 1.1% of the labor force. Industry is a mixture of public and private enterprises, employing about 23% of the work force and generating 22% of GNP. The UK is an energy-rich nation with large coal, natural gas, and oil reserves; primary energy production accounts for 12% of GNP, one of the highest shares of any industrial nation. Following the recession of 1979-81, the economy has enjoyed the longest period of continuous economic growth it has had during the last 30 years. During the period 1982-88 real GNP grew by about 22%, while the inflation rate dropped from 14% to 4.9%. Between 1986 and 1988 unemployment fell from 11% to 8%.

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate

Real gdp per capita

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Agriculture products: wheat, barley, potatoes, sugar beets, livestock, dairy products; 60% self-sufficient (1988; dependent on imports for more than half of consumption of refined sugar, butter, oils and fats, bacon and ham

Industries: machinery and transportation equipment, metals, food processing, paper and paper products, textiles, chemicals, clothing, other consumer goods, motor vehicles, aircraft, shipbuilding, petroleum, coal

Industrial production growth rate: 4.2% (1988)

Labor force:

Unemployment rate: 8.1% (1988)

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget: revenues $335.6 billion; expenditures $320.3 billion, including capital expenditures of $39.1 billion (FY88)

Taxes and other revenues

Public debt

Revenue

Fiscal year: 1 April-31 March

Inflation rate consumer prices

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit

Market value of publicly traded shares

Current account balance

Exports: $130.0 billion (f.o.b., 1988)
Commodities: manufactured goods, machinery, fuels, chemicals, semifinished goods, transport equipment
Partners: EC 48.1% (FRG 11.7%, France 8.5%, Netherlands 7.5%), US 14.2%, Communist countries 2.7%

Imports: $159.1 billion (c.i.f., 1988)
Commodities: manufactured goods, machinery, semifinished goods, foodstuffs, consumer goods
Partners: EC 52.0% (FRG 16.5%, France 8.6%, Netherlands 7.7%), US 10.0%, Communist countries 2.3%

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external: $NA

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: British pounds (L) per US$1 - 0.5631 (January 1989), 0.5614 (1988), 0.6102 (1987), 0.6817 (1986), 0.7714 (1985)


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Electricity
Capacity: 97,303,000 kW capacity; 344,756 million kWh produced, 6,060 kWh per capita (1988)

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones

Telephone system

Broadcast media

Internet

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures
Dollar figure: $35.09 billion, 16.0% of central government budget (FY88 est.)

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports: 489 total, 333 usable; 240 with permanent-surface runways; 1 with runways over 3,659 m; 36 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 131 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Heliports

Pipelines: 933 km crude oil, almost all insignificant; 2,993 km refined products; 12,800 km natural gas

Railways

Roadways

Waterways: 2,291 total; British Waterways Board, 606 km; Port Authorities, 706 km; other, 979 km

Merchant marine: 310 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 6,324,682 GRT/9,401,385 DWT; includes 8 passenger, 22 short-sea passenger, 51 cargo, 2 passenger-cargo, 39 container, 24 roll-on/roll-off cargo, 10 refrigerated cargo, 1 vehicle carrier, 1 railcar carrier, 78 petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker, 15 chemical tanker, 5 liquefied gas, 2 combination ore/oil, 52 bulk, 2 combination bulk

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international: maritime boundary with Ireland; Northern Ireland question with Ireland; Gibraltar question with Spain; Argentina claims Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas; Mauritius claims island of Diego Garcia in British Indian Ocean Territory; colony of Hong Kong is scheduled to become a Special Administrative Region of China in 1997; Rockall continental shelf dispute involving Denmark, Iceland, and Ireland (Ireland and the UK have signed a boundary agreement in the Rockall area; territorial claim in Antarctica (British Antarctic Territory)

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs