Map of United Kingdom | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide198919901991199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024 | More stats

top of page


Background: Great Britain the dominant industrial and maritime power of the 19th century played a leading role in developing parliamentary democracy and in advancing literature and science. At its zenith the British Empire stretched over one-fourth of the earth's surface. The first half of the 20th century saw the UK's strength seriously depleted in two World Wars. The second half witnessed the dismantling of the Empire and the UK rebuilding itself into a modern and prosperous European nation. The UK currently is weighing the degree of its integration with continental Europe. A member of the EU it chose to remain outside of the EMU for the time being. Constitutional reform is also a significant issue in the UK. Regional assemblies with varying degrees of power opened in Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland in 1999.


top of page


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

Geographic coordinates: 54 00 N 2 00 W

Map reference: Europe

Area
Comparative: slightly smaller than Oregon

Land boundaries

Coastline: 12,429 km

Maritime claims

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

Natural resources: coal petroleum natural gas tin limestone iron ore salt clay chalk gypsum lead silica arable land

Land use

Irrigated land: 1080 km² (1993 est.)

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards: NA

Geography
Note: lies near vital North Atlantic sea lanes; only 35 km from France and now linked by tunnel under the English Channel; because of heavily indented coastline no location is more than 125 km from tidal waters


top of page


Population: 59,511,464 (July 2000 est.)
Growth rate: 0.25% (2000 est.)
Below poverty line: 17%

Nationality

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

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

Religions: Anglican 27 million Roman Catholic 9 million Muslim 1 million Presbyterian 800,000 Methodist 760,000 Sikh 400,000 Hindu 350,000 Jewish 300,000 (1991 est.)

Demographic profile

Age structure

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate: 0.25% (2000 est.)

Birth rate: 11.76 births/1000 population (2000 est.)

Death rate: 10.38 deaths/1000 population (2000 est.)

Net migration rate: 1.07 migrant(s)/1000 population (2000 est.)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: sulfur dioxide emissions from power plants contribute to air pollution; some rivers polluted by agricultural wastes; and coastal waters polluted because of large-scale disposal of sewage at sea

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 5.63 deaths/1000 live births (2000 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

Total fertility rate: 1.74 children born/woman (2000 est.)

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

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


top of page


Country name

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: (1) Anguilla Bermuda British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Falkland Islands Gibraltar Guernsey Jersey Isle of Man Montserrat Pitcairn Islands Saint Helena South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Turks and Caicos Islands

Independence: England has existed as a unified entity since the 10th century; the union between England and Wales was enacted under the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284; in the Act of Union of 1707 England and Scotland agreed to permanent union as Great Britain; the legislative union of Great Britain and Ireland was implemented in 1801 with the adoption of the name the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; the Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921 formalized a partition of Ireland; six northern Irish counties remained part of the United Kingdom as Northern Ireland and the current name of the country the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was adopted in 1927

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

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; British courts and legislation are increasingly subject to review by European Union courts

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch

Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament consists of House of Lords (the old House of Lords has been disbanded and the new one is still being formed; the most likely plan calls for 500 members one-fifth elected and the rest appointed) and House of Commons (659 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms unless the House is dissolved earlier)

Judicial branch: House of Lords several Lords of Appeal in Ordinary are appointed by the monarch for life

Political parties and leaders: Alliance Party (Northern Ireland) [Seamus CLOSE]; Conservative and Unionist Party [William HAGUE]; Democratic Unionist Party (Northern Ireland) [Rev. Ian PAISLEY]; Labor Party [Anthony (Tony) Blair]; Liberal Democrats [Charles KENNEDY]; Scottish National Party [Alex SALMOND]; Sinn Fein (Northern Ireland) [Gerry ADAMS]; Social Democratic and Labor Party or SDLP (Northern Ireland) [John HUME]; Ulster Unionist Party (Northern Ireland) [David TRIMBLE]; Welsh National Party (Plaid Cymru) [Dafydd Iwan WIGLEY]

International organization participation: AfDB AsDB Australia Group BIS C CCC CDB (non-regional) CE CERN EAPC EBRD ECA (associate) ECE ECLAC EIB ESA ESCAP EU FAO G- 5 G- 7 G-10 IADB IAEA IBRD ICAO ICC ICFTU ICRM IDA IEA IFAD IFC IFRCS IHO ILO IMF IMO Inmarsat Intelsat Interpol IOC IOM (observer) ISO ITU MONUC NAM (guest) NATO NEA NSG OAS (observer) OECD OPCW OSCE PCA SPC UN UN Security Council UNAMSIL UNCTAD UNESCO UNFICYP UNHCR UNIDO UNIKOM UNMIBH UNMIK UNOMIG UNRWA UNTAET UNU UPU WCL WEU WHO WIPO WMO WTrO ZC

Diplomatic representation

Flag description: blue 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) and which is superimposed on the diagonal white cross of Saint 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 other Commonwealth countries and their constituent states or provinces as well as British overseas territories

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage


top of page


Economy overview: The UK a leading trading power and financial center deploys an essentially capitalistic economy one of the quartet of trillion dollar economies of Western Europe. 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 only 1% 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. Economic growth has been slowed in 1999; recovery to 3% is in prospect for 2000 based on a rise in exports and domestic demand. The BLAIR government has put off the question of participation in the euro system until after the next election not expected until 2001; Chancellor of the Exchequer BROWN has identified some key economic tests to determine whether the UK should join the common currency system.

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate: 1.9% (1999 est.)

Real gdp per capita: purchasing power parity - $21,800 (1999 est.)

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Agriculture products: cereals oilseed potatoes vegetables; cattle sheep poultry; fish

Industries: production machinery including machine tools electric power equipment automation equipment railroad equipment shipbuilding aircraft motor vehicles and parts electronics and communications equipment metals chemicals coal petroleum paper and paper products food processing textiles clothing and other consumer goods

Industrial production growth rate: -0.3% (1999)

Labor force: 29.2 million (1999)
By occupation: services 68.9% manufacturing and construction 17.5% government 11.3% energy 1.2% agriculture 1.1% (1996)

Unemployment rate: 6% (1999)

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line: 17%

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget

Taxes and other revenues

Public debt

Revenue

Fiscal year: 1 April - 31 March

Inflation rate consumer prices: 2.3% (1999)

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: $271 billion (f.o.b. 1998)
Commodities: manufactured goods fuels chemicals; food beverages tobacco
Partners: EU 58% (Germany 12% France 10% Netherlands 8%) US 13% (1998)

Imports: $305.9 billion (f.o.b. 1998)
Commodities: manufactured goods machinery fuels; foodstuffs
Partners: EU 53% (Germany 13% France 9% Netherlands 7% Italy 5%) US 14% (1998)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external: $N/A

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: British pounds per US$1 - 0.6092 (January 2000) 0.6180 (1999) 0.6037 (1998) 0.6106 (1997) 0.6403 (1996) 0.6335 (1995)


top of page


Electricity
Production: 343.099 billion kWh (1998)
Consumption: 331.482 billion kWh (1998)
Exports: 200 million kWh (1998)
Imports: 12.6 billion kWh (1998)

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


top of page


Telephones
Main lines in use: 29.41 million (1995)
Mobile cellular: 13 million (yearend 1998)

Telephone system: technologically advanced domestic and international system

Broadcast media

Internet
Service providers isps: 364 (1999)

Broadband fixed subscriptions


top of page


Military expenditures
Dollar figure: $36.884 billion (FY97/98)
Percent of gdp: 2.7% (FY97/98)

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups


top of page


National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports: 498 (1999 est.)

Heliports: 12 (1999 est.)

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

Railways

Roadways

Waterways: 3,200 km

Merchant marine

Ports and terminals


top of page


Disputes international: Northern Ireland issue with Ireland (historic peace agreement signed 10 April 1998); Gibraltar issue with Spain; Argentina claims Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas); Argentina claims South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; Mauritius claims island of Diego Garcia in British Indian Ocean Territory; 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); Seychelles claims Chagos Archipelago in British Indian Ocean Territory

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs: gateway country for Latin American cocaine entering the European market; producer and major consumer of synthetic drugs synthetic precursor chemicals; major consumer of Southwest Asian heroin; money-laundering center