UK
Posted February 24th, 2008 by Anonymous
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland , commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK , or Britain , is a sovereign island country located off the northwestern coast of mainland Europe comprising of the four constituent countries; England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It comprises the island of Great Britain, the northeast part of the island of Ireland and many small islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK with a land border, sharing it with the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border, the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea. The largest island, Great Britain, is linked to France by the Channel Tunnel.
The United Kingdom is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II as head of state. The Crown Dependencies of the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, formally possessions of the Crown, are not part of the UK but form a federacy with it. The UK has fourteen overseas territories, all remnants of the British Empire, which at its height encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land surface, making it the largest empire in history. As a direct result of the empire, British influence can be observed in the infrastructure, culture, sporting preferences and language of other leading countries including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, India, South Africa, and the United States of America as well as in less globally influential independent states. Queen Elizabeth II remains the head of the Commonwealth of Nations and head of state of the Commonwealth realms. The UK is a developed country, with the fifth or sixth largest economy depending on source.
The UK was the world's foremost power during the 19th and early 20th century, but the economic cost of two world wars and the decline of its empire in the latter half of the 20th century diminished its leading role in global affairs. The UK nevertheless retains significant economic, cultural, military and political influence and is a nuclear power, with the second highest defence spending in the world. It holds a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, and is a member of the G8, NATO, the European Union and the Commonwealth of Nations.
Cities and urban areas
Cities
London is the capital of the UK as a whole. Several cities lay claim to the title "second city".
The capitals of the United Kingdom's constituent countries are:
- Belfast (Northern Ireland)
- Cardiff (Wales)
- Edinburgh (Scotland)
- London (England)
Largest cities/towns
- above 7 million: London
- around 1 million: Birmingham
- above 500,000: Glasgow
- 400,000 – 500,000: Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield, Edinburgh, Bristol
- 300,000 – 400,000: Manchester, Leicester, Coventry, Kingston upon Hull
- 250,000 – 300,000: Bradford, Cardiff, Belfast, Stoke-on-Trent, Wolverhampton
- 200,000 – 250,000: Nottingham, Plymouth, Southampton, Reading, Derby
Urban areas
- Greater London Urban Area - 8.28 million
- West Midlands conurbation - 2.28 million
- Greater Manchester Urban Area - 2.24 million
- West Yorkshire Urban Area - 1.50 million
- Greater Glasgow - 1.17 million
Larger Urban Zones
A European Union measurement of urbanisation, the Larger Urban Zone is a harmonised definition of metropolitan area. Eurostat's objective was to have an area from which a significant share of the residents commute into the city, a concept known as the “functional urban region”. To ensure good data availability, Eurostat works with administrative boundaries that approximate the functional urban region.
Seven UK Zones feature in the top 50 in the EU.
- London - 11.62 million
- Manchester - 2.51 million
- Leeds/Bradford - 2.36 million
- Birmingham - 2.34 million
- Glasgow - 1.75 million
- Liverpool - 1.36 million
- Sheffield - 1.26 million
Demography
Population
At the April 2001 UK Census, the United Kingdom's population was 58,789,194, the third largest in the European Union (behind Germany and France), the fifth largest in the Commonwealth and the twenty-first largest in the world. This had been estimated up to 60,587,300 by the Office for National Statistics in 2006. In August 2006 it was confirmed that the UK's population had reached 60 million, then rapidly increased to 60.2 million, largely from net immigration, but also because of a rising birth rate and increasing life expectancy.
The UK's overall population density is one of the highest in the world. About a quarter of the population lives in England's prosperous south-east and is predominantly urban and suburban, with an estimated 7,517,700 in the capital of London.
In 2006, the UK's total fertility rate (TFR) was 1.86 children per woman, below the replacement rate of 2.1. In 2001, the TFR was at a record low of 1.63, but it has increased each year since, and will continue to do so as the share of births from immigrant mothers continues to prod the fertility rate. The TFR was considerably higher during the 1960s 'baby boom', peaking at 2.95 children per woman in 1964.
Migration and ethnicity
Located as they are on a group of islands close to Continental Europe, the lands now constituting the United Kingdom have historically been subject to invasions and migrations, especially from Scandinavia and the European continent - including Roman occupation for centuries. Present day Britons are descended mainly from the varied ethnic stocks that settled there before the eleventh century. The pre-Celtic, Celtic, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and Norse influences were blended in England under the Normans, Scandinavian Vikings who had lived in northern France (Normandy). Since 1945, international ties forged by the British Empire have contributed to substantial immigration, especially from Africa and South Asia, and, most recently, the accession of new EU members in 2004 has fuelled more immigration from continental Europe. As of 2001, 7.9% of the UK population identified themselves as an ethnic minority.
There is no official National flag of Northern Ireland following the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973 or any unofficial flag universally supported in Northern Ireland. The use of various flags in Northern Ireland is contentious. However, the Ulster Banner is often used for sporting events. See Northern Ireland flags issue and The Union Flags and flags of the United Kingdom
- The national anthem of the United Kingdom is "God Save the King", with "King" replaced with "Queen" in the lyrics whenever the monarch is female. The anthem's name, however, remains "God Save the King". This however is rarely sung in Scotland and Wales where Flower of Scotland and Land of my Fathers are generally sung in each respective country
- Britannia is a personification of the United Kingdom, originating from the Roman occupation of southern and central Great Britain. Britannia is symbolised as a young woman with brown
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