United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was created when the Kingdoms of England and Scotland -- which previously had been distinct states under a single monarchy -- were joined under the 1707 Acts of Union. The island of Ireland was incorporated under the 1800 Acts of Union, while Wales had been part of the Kingdom of England since the 16th century. The United Kingdom has historically played a leading role in developing parliamentary democracy and in advancing literature and science. The 18th and 19th centuries saw the rapid expansion of the British Empire despite the loss of the Thirteen Colonies, and at its zenith in the early 20th century, the British Empire stretched over one fourth of the earth's surface. The first half of the 20th century saw two World Wars seriously deplete the UK's strength and the Irish Republic withdraw from the union. 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 and a founding member of NATO and the Commonwealth of Nations, the UK pursues a global approach to foreign policy. The devolved Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales, and the Northern Ireland Assembly were established in 1998.

The UK was an active member of the EU after its accession in 1973, although it chose to remain outside the Economic and Monetary Union. However, motivated in part by frustration at a remote bureaucracy in Brussels and massive migration into the country, UK citizens in 2016 voted by 52 to 48 percent to leave the EU. On 31 January 2020, the UK became the only country to depart the EU -- a move known as "Brexit" -- after prolonged negotiations on EU-UK economic and security relationships.

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

54 00 N, 2 00 W

Europe

twice the size of Pennsylvania; slightly smaller than Oregon

12,429 km

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

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

coal, petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, lead, zinc, gold, tin, limestone, salt, clay, chalk, gypsum, potash, silica sand, slate, arable land

718 sq km (2018)

the core of the population lies in and around London, with significant clusters found in central Britain around Manchester and Liverpool, in the Scottish lowlands between Edinburgh and Glasgow, in southern Wales in and around Cardiff, and in far-eastern Northern Ireland, centered on Belfast

winter windstorms; floods

lies near vital North Atlantic sea lanes; only 35 km (22 mi) from France and linked by tunnel under the English Channel (the Channel Tunnel or Chunnel); because of heavily indented coastline, no location is more than 125 km (78 mi) from tidal waters

White 87.2%, Black/African/Caribbean/black British 3%, Asian/Asian British: Indian 2.3%, Asian/Asian British: Pakistani 1.9%, mixed 2%, other 3.7% (2011 est.)

English

Christian (includes Anglican, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist) 59.5%, Muslim 4.4%, Hindu 1.3%, other 2%, unspecified 7.2%, none 25.7% (2011 est.)

0.4% (2025 est.)

10.76 births/1,000 population (2025 est.)

9.25 deaths/1,000 population (2025 est.)

2.52 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2025 est.)

the core of the population lies in and around London, with significant clusters found in central Britain around Manchester and Liverpool, in the Scottish lowlands between Edinburgh and Glasgow, in southern Wales in and around Cardiff, and in far-eastern Northern Ireland, centered on Belfast

9.648 million LONDON (capital), 2.791 million Manchester, 2.665 million Birmingham, 1.929 million West Yorkshire, 1.698 million Glasgow, 952,000 Southampton/Portsmouth (2023)

29 years (2018 est.)

8 deaths/100,000 live births (2023 est.)

1.64 children born/woman (2025 est.)

0.8 (2025 est.)

3.3 physicians/1,000 population (2023)

2.4 beds/1,000 population (2021 est.)

27.8% (2016)

0.6% (2019 est.)

49.7% (2021 est.)

air pollution in the London region; soil pollution from pesticides and heavy metals; decline in marine and coastal habitats from housing, tourism, and industry

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

7.8 micrograms per cubic meter (2019 est.)

147 billion cubic meters (2022 est.)

parliamentary constitutional monarchy; a Commonwealth realm

England: 24 two-tier counties, 32 London boroughs and 1 City of London or Greater London, 36 metropolitan districts, 59 unitary authorities (including 4 single-tier counties*)

two-tier counties: Cambridgeshire, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Devon, East Sussex, Essex, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, North Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Somerset, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Warwickshire, West Sussex, Worcestershire

London boroughs and City of London or Greater London: Barking and Dagenham, Barnet, Bexley, Brent, Bromley, Camden, Croydon, Ealing, Enfield, Greenwich, Hackney, Hammersmith and Fulham, Haringey, Harrow, Havering, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Kingston upon Thames, Lambeth, Lewisham, City of London, Merton, Newham, Redbridge, Richmond upon Thames, Southwark, Sutton, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Wandsworth, Westminster

metropolitan districts: Barnsley, Birmingham, Bolton, Bradford, Bury, Calderdale, Coventry, Doncaster, Dudley, Gateshead, Kirklees, Knowlsey, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, Oldham, Rochdale, Rotherham, Salford, Sandwell, Sefton, Sheffield, Solihull, South Tyneside, St. Helens, Stockport, Sunderland, Tameside, Trafford, Wakefield, Walsall, Wigan, Wirral, Wolverhampton

unitary authorities: Bath and North East Somerset; Bedford; Blackburn with Darwen; Blackpool; Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole; Bracknell Forest; Brighton and Hove; City of Bristol; Buckinghamshire; Central Bedfordshire; Cheshire East; Cheshire West and Chester; Cornwall; Darlington; Derby; Dorset; Durham County*; East Riding of Yorkshire; Halton; Hartlepool; Herefordshire*; Isle of Wight*; Isles of Scilly; City of Kingston upon Hull; Leicester; Luton; Medway; Middlesbrough; Milton Keynes; North East Lincolnshire; North Lincolnshire; North Northamptonshire; North Somerset; Northumberland*; Nottingham; Peterborough; Plymouth; Portsmouth; Reading; Redcar and Cleveland; Rutland; Shropshire; Slough; South Gloucestershire; Southampton; Southend-on-Sea; Stockton-on-Tees; Stoke-on-Trent; Swindon; Telford and Wrekin; Thurrock; Torbay; Warrington; West Berkshire; West Northamptonshire; Wiltshire; Windsor and Maidenhead; Wokingham; York

Northern Ireland: 5 borough councils, 4 district councils, 2 city councils

borough councils: Antrim and Newtownabbey; Ards and North Down; Armagh City, Banbridge, and Craigavon; Causeway Coast and Glens; Mid and East Antrim

district councils: Derry City and Strabane; Fermanagh and Omagh; Mid Ulster; Newry, Murne, and Down city councils: Belfast; Lisburn and Castlereagh

Scotland: 32 council areas

council areas: Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Clackmannanshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Dundee City, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Lothian, East Renfrewshire, City of Edinburgh, Eilean Siar (Western Isles), 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, The Scottish Borders, West Dunbartonshire, West Lothian

Wales: 22 unitary authorities

unitary authorities: Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Caerphilly, Cardiff, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Gwynedd, Isle of Anglesey, Merthyr Tydfil, Monmouthshire, Neath Port Talbot, Newport, Pembrokeshire, Powys, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Swansea, The Vale of Glamorgan, Torfaen, Wrexham

Anguilla; Bermuda; British Indian Ocean Territory; British Virgin Islands; Cayman Islands; Falkland Islands; Gibraltar; Montserrat; Pitcairn Islands; Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha; South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; Turks and Caicos Islands (12)

common law system; has nonbinding judicial review of Acts of Parliament under the Human Rights Act of 1998

accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations; accepts ICCt jurisdiction

18 years of age; universal

Alliance Party or APNI (Northern Ireland) 
Conservative and Unionist Party 
Democratic Unionist Party or DUP (Northern Ireland) 
Green Party of England and Wales or Greens 
Labor (Labour) Party 
Liberal Democrats (Lib Dems)
Party of Wales (Plaid Cymru) 
Reform UK 
Scottish National Party or SNP 
Sinn Fein (Northern Ireland) 
Social Democratic and Labor Party or SDLP (Northern Ireland) 
Traditional Unionist Voice or TUV 
UK Independence Party or UKIP 
Ulster Unionist Party or UUP (Northern Ireland) 
Workers Party of Great Britian

ADB (nonregional member), AfDB (nonregional member), Arctic Council (observer), Australia Group, BIS, C, CBSS (observer), CD, CDB, CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, ECB, EIB, EITI (implementing country), ESA, EU, FAO, FATF, G-5, G-7, G-8, G-10, G-20, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC (national committees), ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IGAD (partners), IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), MIGA, MONUSCO, NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, Pacific Alliance (observer), Paris Club, PCA, PIF (partner), SELEC (observer), SICA (observer), UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNFICYP, UNHCR, UNMISS, UNOOSA, UNRWA, UN Security Council (permanent), UNSOM, UPU, Wassenaar Arrangement, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC

no official date of independence: 927 (minor English kingdoms unite); 3 March 1284 (enactment of the Statute of Rhuddlan uniting England and Wales); 1536 (Act of Union incorporates England and Wales); 1 May 1707 (Acts of Union unite England, Scotland, and Wales as Great Britain); 1 January 1801 (Acts of Union unite Great Britain and Ireland as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland); 6 December 1921 (Anglo-Irish Treaty formalizes partition of Ireland; six counties become Northern Ireland and remain part of the UK); 12 April 1927 (Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act establishes current name of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)

the UK does not celebrate one particular national holiday

description: blue field with the red cross of Saint George (patron saint of England) edged in white on top of the diagonal red cross of Saint Patrick (patron saint of Ireland), which is on top of the diagonal white cross of Saint Andrew (patron saint of Scotland)

history: the official name is the Union Flag, but commonly called the Union Jack; the design and colors have been the basis for a number of other flags

lion (all of Britain); lion, Tudor rose, oak (England); lion, unicorn, thistle (Scotland); dragon, daffodil, leek (Wales); shamrock, flax (Northern Ireland)

red, white, blue (all of Britain); red, white (England); blue, white (Scotland); red, white, green (Wales)

$3.644 trillion (2024 est.)

milk, wheat, sugar beets, barley, potatoes, chicken, rapeseed, pork, beef, oats (2023)

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

-0.5% (2024 est.)

35.359 million (2024 est.)

18.6% (2017 est.)

27.4% (of GDP) (2023 est.)

USA 14%, China 8%, Germany 8%, Netherlands 7%, Ireland 7% (2023)

cars, gold, gas turbines, packaged medicine, crude petroleum (2023)

China 13%, USA 11%, Germany 10%, France 5%, Norway 4% (2023)

cars, gold, crude petroleum, refined petroleum, natural gas (2023)

public-service British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is the largest broadcasting company in the world; BBC operates multiple TV networks with regional and local TV; mixed system of public and commercial TV broadcasters along with satellite and cable systems provide access to hundreds of international TV stations; BBC operates multiple national, regional, and local radio networks with multiple transmission sites; large number of commercial and satellite radio stations available (2018)

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1,057 (2025)

139 (2025)

begun in 1988 and completed in 1994, the Channel Tunnel (nicknamed the Chunnel) is a 50.5-km (31.4-mi) rail tunnel under the English Channel at the Strait of Dover; it runs from Folkestone, Kent, in England to Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais, in northern France and is the only fixed link between the island of Great Britain and mainland Europe

United Kingdom Armed Forces (aka British Armed Forces, aka His Majesty's Armed Forces): British Army, Royal Navy (includes Royal Marines), Royal Air Force (2025)

approximately 138,000 Regular Forces (75,000 Army including the Gurkhas; 32,000 Navy including the Royal Marines; 31,000 Air Force) (2025)

the British military's inventory is comprised of domestically produced armaments and imported Western weapons systems, particularly from the US; the UK defense industry is capable of producing air, land, and sea weapons systems and is one of the world's top weapons suppliers; it also cooperates with other European countries, as well as Australia and the US, in the research and development of weapons systems (2025)

16 years of age for enlisted ranks (with parental consent for under 18) and 18 years of age for officers; maximum age varies by military service; conscription abolished in 1963 (2026)

the British military has more than 8,000 personnel on permanent or long-term rotational deployments around the globe in support of NATO, UN, or other commitments and agreements; key deployments include approximately 1,000 in Brunei, approximately 2,500 in Cyprus (includes 250 for UNFICYP), approximately 900-1,000 in Estonia (NATO), over 1,000 in the Falkland Islands, 500-600 in Gibraltar, and more than 1,000 in the Middle East; its air and naval forces conduct missions on a global basis; the British military also participates in large scale NATO exercises, including providing some 16,000 personnel for the 6-month 2024 Steadfast Defender exercise (2024)

the British military has a long history, a global presence, and a wide range of missions and responsibilities, including protecting the UK, its dependencies and territories, national interests, and values, preventing conflict, providing humanitarian assistance, participating in international peacekeeping, building relationships, and fulfilling the UK’s alliance and treaty commitments; in addition to its role in the UN, the UK is a leading member of NATO

the UK is a member of the Five Power Defense Arrangements (FPDA), a series of mutual assistance agreements reached in 1971 embracing Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, and the UK; in 2014, the UK led the formation of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), a pool of high-readiness military forces from the Baltic and Scandinavian countries intended to respond to a wide range of contingencies both in peacetime and in times of crisis or conflict; the UK military also has strong bilateral ties with a variety of foreign militaries, particularly the US, with which it has a mutual defense treaty; British and US military forces have routinely operated side-by-side across a wide range of operations; other close military relationships include Australia, France, Germany, and the Netherlands; in 2010, for example, France and the UK signed a declaration on defense and security cooperation that included greater military interoperability and a Combined Joint Expeditionary Force (CJEF), a deployable, combined Anglo-French military force for use in a range of crisis scenarios (2025)

UK Space Agency (UKSA; established in 2010) (2025)

Spaceport 1 (Outer Hebrides, Scotland); Spaceport Machrihanish (Argyll, Scotland); Glasgow Prestwick (South Ayrshire, Scotland); Spaceport Snowdonia (Gwynedd, Wales); SaxaVord UK Spaceport (Unst, Shetland Islands); Sutherland Spaceport (Sutherland, Scotland); Sutherland, Scotland (Cornwall Airport Newquay, Cornwall) (2024)

has a long-standing, comprehensive national space program; is active across all areas of the space sector except human space flight, including satellite launch vehicles (SLVs)/rockets, probes, satellites, and spaceports; is a founding member of the ESA and is deeply involved in ESA programs; has bilateral relations with many ESA members and is a close partner of the US NASA; since 2016 has forged over 350 relationships with international organizations across nearly 50 countries; participates in international programs such as the International Space Station and the James Webb Space Telescope; has a large commercial space sector; the UK has a space industrial plan, and the UK Space Agency has provided funding for commercial space projects (2025)

1957 - first suborbital sounding rocket (Skylark) launched

1960s - first satellite (Ariel) launched by US; development of Black Arrow satellite launch vehicle (SLV); launched first of Skynet family of communications satellites

1971 - first successful placement of satellite (Prospero) in orbit on a 3-stage Black Arrow SLV (Black Arrow SLV program ended in early 1970s)

1973 - began participating in development of Ariane SLV along with other European states, particularly France and Germany

1991 - first British astronaut into space to Russian Mir space station

2015 - first British astronaut on International Space Station

2019-2020 - began participating in US Gateway lunar orbital station program and signed US-led Artemis Accords for space and lunar exploration

2024 - first military remote sensing satellite (Tyche) launched by US

Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA); Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS); al-Qa'ida; Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA)