| 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. 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; it
currently is weighing the degree of its integration with
continental Europe. A member of the EU, it chose to remain
outside of the European Monetary Union 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. |
| 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 |
| Area: |
total:
244,820 sq km
land: 241,590 sq km
water: 3,230 sq km
note: includes Rockall and Shetland Islands |
| Area
- comparative: |
slightly smaller
than Oregon |
| Land
boundaries: |
total:
360 km
border countries: Ireland 360 km |
| Maritime
claims: |
continental
shelf: as defined in continental shelf orders or
in accordance with agreed upon boundaries
exclusive fishing zone: 200 NM
territorial sea: 12 NM |
| 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:
Fenland -4 m
highest point: Ben Nevis 1,343 m |
| Natural
resources: |
coal, petroleum,
natural gas, tin, limestone, iron ore, salt, clay, chalk,
gypsum, lead, silica, arable land |
| Land
use: |
arable land:
25%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 46%
forests and woodland: 10%
other: 19% (1993 est.) |
| Irrigated
land: |
1,080 sq km (1993
est.) |
| Environment
- current issues: |
continues to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions (has meet Kyoto Protocol
target of a 12.5% reduction from 1990 levels and hopes to
reduce even more); small particulate emissions, largely from
vehicular traffic, remain a problem; solid waste continues
to rise and recycling is very limited |
| Environment
- international agreements: |
party to:
Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur
94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds,
Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living
Resources, Antarctic Seals, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity,
Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species,
Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the
Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test
Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber
83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Air
Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Climate
Change-Kyoto Protocol |
| 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 |
| Population: |
59,647,790 (July
2001 est.) |
| Age
structure: |
0-14 years:
18.89% (male 5,778,415; female 5,486,114)
15-64 years: 65.41% (male 19,712,932; female
19,304,771)
65 years and over: 15.7% (male 3,895,921;
female 5,469,637) (2001 est.) |
| Population
growth rate: |
0.23% (2001 est.) |
| Birth
rate: |
11.54
births/1,000 population (2001 est.) |
| Death
rate: |
10.35
deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.) |
| Net
migration rate: |
1.07 migrant(s)/1,000
population (2001 est.) |
| Sex
ratio: |
at birth:
1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.71 male(s)/female
total population: 0.97 male(s)/female (2001
est.) |
| Infant
mortality rate: |
5.54 deaths/1,000
live births (2001 est.) |
| Life
expectancy at birth: |
total
population: 77.82 years
male: 75.13 years
female: 80.66 years (2001 est.) |
| Total
fertility rate: |
1.73 children
born/woman (2001 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS
- adult prevalence rate: |
0.11% (1999 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS
- people living with HIV/AIDS: |
31,000 (1999
est.) |
| HIV/AIDS
- deaths: |
450 (1999 est.) |
| Nationality: |
noun:
Briton(s), British (collective plural)
adjective: British |
| 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% |
| 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.) |
| Languages: |
English, Welsh
(about 26% of the population of Wales), Scottish form of
Gaelic (about 60,000 in Scotland) |
| Literacy: |
definition:
age 15 and over has completed five or more years of
schooling
total population: 99% (1978 est.)
male: NA%
female: NA% |
| Country
name: |
conventional
long form: United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland
conventional short form: United Kingdom
abbreviation: UK |
| Government
type: |
constitutional
monarchy |
| Administrative
divisions: |
England - 47
boroughs, 36 counties*, 29 London boroughs**, 12 cities and
boroughs***, 10 districts****, 12 cities*****, 3 royal
boroughs******; Barking and Dagenham**, Barnet**, Barnsley,
Bath and North East Somerset****, Bedfordshire*, Bexley**,
Birmingham***, Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool, Bolton,
Bournemouth, Bracknell Forest, Bradford***, Brent**,
Brighton and Hove, City of Bristol*****, Bromley**,
Buckinghamshire*, Bury, Calderdale, Cambridgeshire*,
Camden**, Cheshire*, Cornwall*, Coventry***, Croydon**,
Cumbria*, Darlington, Derby*****, Derbyshire*, Devon*,
Doncaster, Dorset*, Dudley, Durham*, Ealing**, East Riding
of Yorkshire****, East Sussex*, Enfield**, Essex*, Gateshead,
Gloucestershire*, Greenwich**, Hackney**, Halton,
Hammersmith and Fulham**, Hampshire*, Haringey**, Harrow**,
Hartlepool, Havering**, Herefordshire*, Hertfordshire*,
Hillingdon**, Hounslow**, Isle of Wight*, Islington**,
Kensington and Chelsea******, Kent*, City of Kingston upon
Hull*****, Kingston upon Thames******, Kirklees, Knowsley,
Lambeth**, Lancashire*, Leeds***, Leicester*****,
Leicestershire*, Lewisham**, Lincolnshire*, Liverpool***,
City of London*****, Luton, Manchester***, Medway, Merton**,
Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, Newcastle upon Tyne***, Newham**,
Norfolk*, Northamptonshire*, North East Lincolnshire****,
North Lincolnshire****, North Somerset****, North Tyneside,
Northumberland*, North Yorkshire*, Nottingham*****,
Nottinghamshire*, Oldham, Oxfordshire*, Peterborough*****,
Plymouth*****, Poole, Portsmouth*****, Reading, Redbridge**,
Redcar and Cleveland, Richmond upon Thames**, Rochdale,
Rotherham, Rutland****, Salford***, Shropshire*, Sandwell,
Sefton, Sheffield***, Slough, Solihull, Somerset*,
Southampton*****, Southend-on-Sea, South Gloucestershire****,
South Tyneside, Southwark**, Staffordshire*, St. Helens,
Stockport, Stockton-on-Tees, Stoke-on-Trent*****, Suffolk*,
Sunderland***, Surrey*, Sutton**, Swindon, Tameside, Telford
and Wrekin****, Thurrock, Torbay, Tower Hamlets**, Trafford,
Wakefield***, Walsall, Waltham Forest**, Wandsworth**,
Warrington, Warwickshire*, West Berkshire****,
Westminster***, West Sussex*, Wigan, Wiltshire*, Windsor and
Maidenhead******, Wirral, Wokingham****, Wolverhampton,
Worcestershire*, York*****; Northern Ireland - 24 districts,
2 cities*; Antrim, Ards, Armagh, Ballymena, Ballymoney,
Banbridge, Belfast*, Carrickfergus, Castlereagh, Coleraine,
Cookstown, Craigavon, Down, Dungannon, Fermanagh, Larne,
Limavady, Lisburn, Derry*, Magherafelt, Moyle, Newry and
Mourne, Newtownabbey, North Down, Omagh, Strabane; 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**; Isle of Anglesey*, Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend,
Caerphilly, Cardiff**, Ceredigion*, Carmarthenshire*, Conwy,
Denbighshire*, Flintshire*, Gwynedd, Merthyr Tydfil,
Monmouthshire*, Neath Port Talbot, Newport, Pembrokeshire*,
Powys*, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Swansea**, Torfaen, The Vale of
Glamorgan*, Wrexham |
| 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, 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: |
Birthday of Queen
ELIZABETH II, celebrated on the second Saturday in June
(1926) |
| 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 |
| 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 C.
L. (Tony) BLAIR (since 2 May 1997)
cabinet: Cabinet of Ministers appointed by the
prime minister
elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; the
prime minister is the leader of the majority party in the
House of Commons (assuming there is no majority party, a
prime minister would have a majority coalition or at least a
coalition that was not rejected by the majority) |
| 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 (659 seats; members are elected
by popular vote to serve five-year terms unless the House is
dissolved earlier)
elections: House of Lords - no elections (some
proposals for further reform include elections); House of
Commons - last held 7 June 2001 (next to be held by NA May
2006)
election results: House of Commons - percent of
vote by party - NA%; seats by party - Labor 412,
Conservative and Unionist 166, Liberal Democrat 52, other 29
note: in 1998 elections were held for a
Northern Ireland Parliament (because of unresolved disputes
among existing parties, the transfer of power from London to
Northern Ireland came only at the end of 1999 and was
rescinded in February 2000); in 1999 there were elections
for a new Scottish Parliament and a new Welsh Assembly |
| 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 |
| Political
parties and leaders: |
Conservative and
Unionist Party [William HAGUE]; Democratic Unionist Party
(Northern Ireland) [Rev. Ian PAISLEY]; Labor Party [Anthony
(Tony) Blair]; Liberal Democrats [Charles KENNEDY]; Party of
Wales (Plaid Cymru) [Ieuan Wyn JONES]; Scottish National
Party or SNP [John SWINNEY]; Sinn Fein (Northern Ireland)
[Gerry ADAMS]; Social Democratic and Labor Party or SDLP
(Northern Ireland) [John HUME]; Ulster Unionist Party
(Northern Ireland) [David TRIMBLE] |
| Political
pressure groups and leaders: |
Campaign for
Nuclear Disarmament; Confederation of British Industry;
National Farmers' Union; Trades Union Congress |
| 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 in the US: |
chief of
mission: Ambassador Sir Christopher J. R. MEYER
chancery: 3100 Massachusetts Avenue NW,
Washington, DC 20008
telephone: [1] (202) 588-6500
FAX: [1] (202) 588-7870
consulate(s) general: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago,
Cleveland, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco
consulate(s): Dallas, Denver, Miami, Orlando
(reports to Atlanta), San Juan, and Seattle |
| Diplomatic
representation from the US: |
chief of
mission: Ambassador Philip LADER
embassy: 24/31 Grosvenor Square, London, W1A1AE
mailing address: PSC 801, Box 40, FPO AE
09498-4040
telephone: [44] (0) 207499-9000 (switchboard)
FAX: [44] (171) 409-1637
consulate(s) general: Belfast, Edinburgh |
| 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 |
| 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. The
economy has grown steadily, at just above or below 3%, for
the last several years. The BLAIR government has put off the
question of participation in the euro system until after the
next election, in June of 2001; Chancellor of the Exchequer
BROWN has identified some key economic tests to determine
whether the UK should join the common currency system, but
it will largely be a political decision. A serious
short-term problem is foot-and-mouth disease, which by early
2001 had broken out in nearly 600 farms and slaughterhouses
and had resulted in the killing of 400,000 animals. |
| GDP: |
purchasing power
parity - $1.36 trillion (2000 est.) |
| GDP
- real growth rate: |
3% (2000 est.) |
| GDP
- per capita: |
purchasing power
parity - $22,800 (2000 est.) |
| GDP
- composition by sector: |
agriculture:
1.7%
industry: 24.9%
services: 73.4% (1999) |
| Population
below poverty line: |
17% |
| Household
income or consumption by percentage share: |
lowest 10%:
2.6%
highest 10%: 27.3% (1991) |
| Inflation
rate (consumer prices): |
2.4% (2000 est.) |
| Labor
force: |
29.2 million
(1999) |
| Labor
force - by occupation: |
agriculture 1%,
industry 19%, services 80% (1996 est.) |
| Unemployment
rate: |
5.5% (2000 est.) |
| Budget: |
revenues:
$555.2 billion
expenditures: $510.8 billion, including capital
expenditures of $37.7 billion (FY00) |
| Industries: |
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: |
2% (2000) |
| Electricity
- production: |
342.771 billion
kWh (1999) |
| Electricity
- production by source: |
fossil fuel:
69.38%
hydro: 1.55%
nuclear: 26.68%
other: 2.39% (1999) |
| Electricity
- consumption: |
333.012 billion
kWh (1999) |
| Electricity
- exports: |
265 million kWh
(1999) |
| Electricity
- imports: |
14.5 billion kWh
(1999) |
| Agriculture
- products: |
cereals, oilseed,
potatoes, vegetables; cattle, sheep, poultry; fish |
| Exports: |
$282 billion
(f.o.b., 2000) |
| Exports
- commodities: |
manufactured
goods, fuels, chemicals; food, beverages, tobacco |
| Exports
- partners: |
EU 58% (Germany
12%, France 10%, Netherlands 8%), US 15% (1999) |
| Imports: |
$324 billion
(f.o.b., 2000) |
| Imports
- commodities: |
manufactured
goods, machinery, fuels; foodstuffs |
| Imports
- partners: |
EU 53% (Germany
14%, France 9%, Netherlands 7%), US 13%, Japan 5% (1999) |
| Economic
aid - donor: |
ODA, $3.4 billion
(1997) |
| Currency: |
British pound (GBP) |
| Exchange
rates: |
British pounds
per US dollar - 0.6764 (January 2001), 0.6596 (2000), 0.6180
(1999), 0.6037 (1998), 0.6106 (1997), 0.6403 (1996) |
| Fiscal
year: |
1 April - 31
March |
| Telephones
- main lines in use: |
34.878 million
(1997) |
| Telephones
- mobile cellular: |
13 million
(yearend 1998) |
| Telephone
system: |
general
assessment: technologically advanced domestic and
international system
domestic: equal mix of buried cables, microwave
radio relay, and fiber-optic systems
international: 40 coaxial submarine cables;
satellite earth stations - 10 Intelsat (7 Atlantic Ocean and
3 Indian Ocean), 1 Inmarsat (Atlantic Ocean region), and 1
Eutelsat; at least 8 large international switching centers |
| Radio
broadcast stations: |
AM 219, FM 431,
shortwave 3 (1998) |
| Radios: |
84.5 million
(1997) |
| Television
broadcast stations: |
228 (plus 3,523
repeaters) (1995) |
| Televisions: |
30.5 million
(1997) |
| Internet
country code: |
.uk |
| Internet
Service Providers (ISPs): |
245 (2000) |
| Internet
users: |
19.47 million
(2000) |
| Railways: |
total:
16,878 km
broad gauge: 342 km 1.600-m gauge (190 km
double track); note - all 1.600-m gauge track, of which 342
km is in common carrier use, and is in Northern Ireland
standard gauge: 16,536 km 1.435-m gauge (4,928
km electrified; 12,591 km double or multiple track) (1996) |
| Highways: |
total:
371,603 km
paved: 371,603 km (including 3,303 km of
expressways)
unpaved: 0 km (1998 est.) |
| Pipelines: |
crude oil (almost
all insignificant) 933 km; petroleum products 2,993 km;
natural gas 12,800 km |
| Ports
and harbors: |
Aberdeen,
Belfast, Bristol, Cardiff, Dover, Falmouth, Felixstowe,
Glasgow, Grangemouth, Hull, Leith, Liverpool, London,
Manchester, Peterhead, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Scapa Flow,
Southampton, Sullom Voe, Tees, Tyne |
| Merchant
marine: |
total:
200 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 3,934,776 GRT/3,760,240
DWT
ships by type: bulk 4, cargo 31, chemical
tanker 11, combination ore/oil 1, container 47, liquefied
gas 3, passenger 14, passenger/cargo 1, petroleum tanker 52,
refrigerated cargo 4, roll on/roll off 19, short-sea
passenger 10, specialized tanker 1, vehicle carrier 2
note: includes some foreign-owned ships
registered here as a flag of convenience: Denmark 1 (2000
est.) |
| Airports: |
489 (2000 est.) |
| Airports
- with paved runways: |
total:
349
over 3,047 m: 10
2,438 to 3,047 m: 33
1,524 to 2,437 m: 162
914 to 1,523 m: 89
under 914 m: 55 (2000 est.) |
| Airports
- with unpaved runways: |
total:
140
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1
914 to 1,523 m: 23
under 914 m: 116 (2000 est.) |
| Heliports: |
11 (2000 est.) |
| Military
branches: |
Army, Royal Navy
(includes Royal Marines), Royal Air Force |
| Military
manpower - availability: |
males age
15-49: 14,599,199 (2001 est.) |
| Military
manpower - fit for military service: |
males age
15-49: 12,139,930 (2001 est.) |
| Military
expenditures - dollar figure: |
$36.884 billion
(FY97) |
| Military
expenditures - percent of GDP: |
2.7% (FY97) |
| 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 and the Seychelles
claim Chagos Archipelago (UK-administered British Indian
Ocean Territory); Rockall continental shelf dispute
involving Denmark and Iceland; territorial claim in
Antarctica (British Antarctic Territory) overlaps Argentine
claim and partially overlaps Chilean claim; disputes with
Iceland, Denmark, and Ireland over the Faroe Islands
continental shelf boundary outside 200 NM |
| Illicit
drugs: |
gateway country
for Latin American cocaine entering the European market;
major consumer of synthetic drugs, producer of limited
amounts of synthetic drugs and synthetic precursor
chemicals; major consumer of Southwest Asian heroin;
money-laundering center |
|
