When people think of Britain, they often think of

The United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The United Kingdom (UK) is a Constitutional Monarchy
The latter 3 have devolved authorities responsible
for some regulation and policy making.
The UK covers an area
of 242,500 square kilometres and has a population of about 60 million, similar to that of France and Italy.
Population: 60,776,238 (July 2007 est.)
It is made up of 4 semi-autonomous countries:
England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

England has existed as a unified entity since the 10th century.
The union between England and Wales, begun in 1284 but was not formalised until 1536.
Scotland was an independent nation until the Act of Union in 1707 when England and Scotland joined to form Great Britain
The Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921 formalised a partition of Ireland; 6 northern Irish counties remained part of the United Kingdom as Northern Ireland
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 current name of the country, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, was adopted in 1927

Population (mid-2005)
In mid-2005 the UK was home to 60.2 million people, of which 50.4 million lived in England.
The average age was 38.8 years, an increase on 1971 when it was 34.1 years.
Approximately one in 5 people were under 16 and one in 6 people were 65 or over.
The UK population is growing (0.275%). Until the mid-1990s this growth was mainly due to the number of births exceeding deaths. While natural change has continued, since the late 1990s net international migration into the UK from abroad has been an increasingly important factor

Where do people live?
Languages:
English
Welsh (about 760,000)
Gaelic (about 60,000 in Scotland)

8 in 10 people live in an urban area
Total population 60.2 million
26% live in London and South East
Literacy rate 99%
1 in 9 moved in year to April 2001
1 in 12 were born overseas
1 in 8 were EU residents living in UK
243 people/km²
Ranked 48th in the world according to the
United Nations World Populations Prospects Report
65% of children live with both birth parents

Main Cities
London – 7.2 million
Birmingham – 992,000
Leeds – 720,000
Glasgow – 560,000
Sheffield – 512,000
Bradford – 467,000
Edinburgh – 450,000
Liverpool – 440,000
Manchester 420,000
Bristol – 380,000
Cardiff – 310,000
Nottingham – 285,000
Belfast – 280,000
Newcastle – 259,000
Hull – 240,000
Plymouth 240,000
Aberdeen – 215,000
Portsmouth – 186,000
York – 182,000
Population: 60,776,238 (July 2007 est.)

Religion
Christianity is the main religion in Britain
There were 41 million Christians in 2001, making up almost three quarters of the population (72%).
This includes Church of England, Church of Scotland, Church in Wales, Catholic, Protestant and all other Christian denominations.
People with no religion
form the second largest group,
comprising 15% of the population.
About one in 20 (5%) of the population belongs to a non-Christian religious denomination.
This includes almost 1.6 million Muslims and 600,000 Hindus
These “Minority” religious groups were concentrated in London
2005 Eurobarometer report showed that 62% did not believe in a god.

Local Legends
Stole from the rich …
The spider and the king
Saint Patrick
Saint Andrew
Saint David
Age of chivalry
Saint George

Health
In the 2001 Census, 40 million
(out of the 60 million living in the UK)
rated their general health in the last year as 'good', a further 13 million rated it as 'fairly good'
The main causes of death are:
Circulatory Disease (eg heart disease / stroke)
Cancers
Respiratory Diseases (Pneumonia)
Injury and poisoning
Infectious Diseases
Life expectancy for both men and women has continued to rise.
In 2002, life expectancy at birth was 81 years for females and 76 years for males.
This contrasts with 49 and 45 years respectively in 1901.

Health
1 in 4 adults smoke
Drinking among girls continues to rise
1 in 6 adults have a neurotic disorder
HIV prevalence <0.2% (2007)
Average of 1.66 children born/woman
HIV & chlamydia diagnoses increasing
PLHA 97,423 (June 2008)
HIV/AIDS deaths – less than 500 per year
Infant Mortality rate of 5.01 deaths per 1,000 live births
* Source – Avert, UK

Climate
temperate; moderated by prevailing southwest winds over the North Atlantic Current.
“More than half of the days are overcast”

Geography
Mostly rugged hills and low mountains – level to rolling plains in the east and southeast
Lowest point – The Fens (-4m)
Highest Point – Ben Nevis (1,343m)

Natural Resources
Resources include: Coal, Petroleum, Natural gas, Iron ore, Lead, Zinc, Gold, Tin, Limestone, Salt, Clay, Chalk, Gypsum, Potash, Silica sand, Slate, arable land.
Primary energy production accounts for 10% of GDP;
In 2005 the sources were:
Natural Gas: 40%
Oil: 33%
Coal: 17%
Nuclear: 8%
Renewable: 2%

Other Resources
Industry
Services
(banking, insurance, and business services)

Land Use
Agriculture is intensive, highly mechanized, and efficient, producing about 60% of food needs with less than 2% of the labor force
Products include: cereals, oilseed, potatoes, vegetables; cattle, sheep,
poultry; fish
Non- agricultural land uses include: 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, other consumer goods
Over 70% of the total UK land area is under agricultural use, although less than 1% is used for permanent crops.

Natural Hazards
Winter windstorms
Floods

Money
The UK has been a member of the EU since 1973, but does not participate in the European single currency, the Euro.

Economy
Exchange rate 1 UK Pound (GBP) on 20 July 2007
US$2.05 euro 1.49
Exchange rate 1 UK Pound (GBP) on 16 February 2009
US$1.43 euro 1.12

Employment
Labour force of 31.1 million
Unemployment rate 6.1%
In the 3 months to the end of Nov 08 (According to ILO)
Unemployment Benefit-Jobseeker’s Allowance-New Deal
Occupations:
agriculture: 1.4%
industry: 18.2%
services: 80.4% (2006 est.)

Earnings
Average salary/wage £24,908 pa (April 2008)
Ranges from
£946 per week for top 10% to
under £262 per week for the lowest paid
Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE)
Minimum Wage £5.73 per hour
For full time, legally resident, adult employees
Popln below poverty line: 17%
2007 average earnings in Hull = £10,416 pa
Source: Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR)

Politics
The UK is a long-established parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarch as Head of State. The democracy is sustained by free elections, freedom of speech and open and equal treatment before the law.
The Parliament is made up of :
the Sovereign (Queen Elizabeth II),
the House of Lords (the upper house)
and the House of Commons (the lower house).
The House of Lords consists of approximately:
500 life peers, 92 hereditary peers and 26 clergy.
Elections are held as vacancies in the hereditary peerage arise.

Politics
Today the House of Commons is the dominant branch. The House of Commons is democratically elected body of 646 “Members of Parliament” or MPs.
Sittings of the house are open to the public and debates are broadcast on the radio and television.
MPs are elected by the first-past-the-post system of election and hold office until Parliament is dissolved (a maximum of 5 years).
Each MP is elected by and represents an electoral district known as a constituency. Elections were last held in May 2005.