Location: Western Europe, bordering
on the North Atlantic Ocean and
the North Sea, between Ireland and France
Map references:
Europe, Standard Time Zones of the World
Area:
total area 244,820 sq km
land area 241,590 sq km
comparative area slightly smaller than Oregon
note includes
Rockall and Shetland Islands
Land boundaries: total 360
km, Ireland 360 km
Coastline: 12,429 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
International disputes:
Northern Ireland question with Ireland; Gibraltar question 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)
Climate: temperate; moderated by prevailing southwest winds
over the North Atlantic Current; more than half of the days are overcast
Terrain: mostly rugged hills and low mountains; level to rolling plains
in east and southeast
Natural resources: coal, petroleum,
natural gas, tin, limestone, iron ore, salt, clay, chalk, gypsum, lead, silica
Land use:
arable land 29%
permanent crops
0%
meadows and pastures 48%
forest and woodland
9%
other 14%
Irrigated land: 1,570 sq
km (1989)
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
natural hazards NA
international agreements
party to - Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Antarctic Treaty,
Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous
Wastes, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone
Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber, Wetlands, Whaling; signed,
but not ratified - Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental
Protocol, Biodiversity
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:
58,135,110 (July 1994 est.)
Population growth rate:
0.28% (1994 est.)
Birth rate: 13.39 births/1,000 population
(1994 est.)
Death rate: 10.76 deaths/1,000 population
(1994 est.)
Net migration rate: 0.17 migrant(s)/1,000
population (1994 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 7.2 deaths/1,000
live births (1994 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population 76.75 years
male 73.94 years
female
79.69 years (1994 est.)
Total fertility rate: 1.83
children born/woman (1994 est.)
Nationality:
noun
Briton(s), British (collective pl.)
adjective British
Ethnic divisions: 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.)
note the UK does not include
a question on religion in its census
Languages: English,
Welsh (about 26% of the population of Wales), Scottish form of Gaelic (about
60,000 in Scotland)
Literacy: age 15 and over can read
and write (1978 est.)
total population 99%
male NA%
female NA%
Labor force: 28.048 million
by occupation
services 62.8%, manufacturing and construction 25.0%, government 9.1%,
energy 1.9%, agriculture 1.2% (June 1992)
Names:
conventional long form United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
conventional short form
United Kingdom
Abbreviation: UK
Digraph:
UK
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: Anguilla, Bermuda, British
Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands,
Gibraltar, Guernsey, Hong Kong (scheduled to become a Special Administrative
Region of China on 1 July 1997), Jersey, Isle of Man, Montserrat, Pitcairn
Islands, Saint Helena, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Turks
and Caicos Islands
Independence: 1 January 1801 (United
Kingdom established)
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
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 John MAJOR (since 28 November 1990)
cabinet Cabinet
of Ministers
Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament
House of Lords consists of a 1,200-member body, four-fifths are hereditary
peers, 2 archbishops, 24 other senior bishops, serving and retired Lords of
Appeal in Ordinary, other life peers, Scottish peers
House of Commons
elections last held 9 April 1992 (next to be held by NA April 1997);
results - Conservative 41.9%, Labor 34.5%, Liberal Democratic 17.9%, other
5.7%; seats - (651 total) Conservative 336, Labor 271, Liberal Democratic
20, other 24
Judicial branch: House of Lords
Political parties and leaders: Conservative and Unionist Party, John
MAJOR; Labor Party; Liberal Democrats (LD), Jeremy (Paddy) ASHDOWN; Scottish
National Party, Alex SALMOND; Welsh National Party (Plaid Cymru), Dafydd Iwan
WIGLEY; Ulster Unionist Party (Northern Ireland), James MOLYNEAUX; Democratic
Unionist Party (Northern Ireland), Rev. Ian PAISLEY; Ulster Popular Unionist
Party (Northern Ireland), Sir James KILFEDDER; Social Democratic and Labor
Party (SDLP, Northern Ireland), John HUME; Sinn Fein (Northern Ireland), Gerry
ADAMS
Other political or pressure groups: Trades Union
Congress; Confederation of British Industry; National Farmers' Union; Campaign
for Nuclear Disarmament
Member of: AfDB, AG (observer),
AsDB, Australian Group, BIS, C, CCC, CDB (non-regional), CE, CERN, COCOM,
CSCE, EBRD, EC, ECA (associate), ECE, ECLAC, EIB, ESCAP, ESA, FAO, G-5, G-7,
G-10, GATT, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, ILO,
IMF, IMO, INMARSAT, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, LORCS,
MINURSO, MTRC, NACC, NATO, NEA, NSG, OECD, PCA, SPC, UN, UNCTAD, UNFICYP,
UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIKOM, UNPROFOR, UNRWA, UN Security Council, UNTAC, UN Trusteeship
Council, UPU, WCL, WEU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, ZC
Diplomatic representation in US:
chief of mission Ambassador Sir Robin RENWICK
chancery
3100 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008
telephone
(202) 462-1340
FAX (202) 898-4255
consulate(s) general
Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Houston, Los Angeles, New York,
and San Francisco,
consulate(s) Dallas, Miami, Nuku'alofa, and
Seattle
US diplomatic representation:
chief of mission
Ambassador-designate Adm. William CROWE
embassy 24/31 Grosvenor
Square, London, W.1A1AE
mailing address PSC 801, Box 40, FPO
AE 09498-4040
telephone [44] (71) 499-9000
FAX [44]
(71) 409-1637
consulate(s) general Belfast and Edinburgh
Flag: 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) 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 dependencies, Commonwealth countries, and
others
Overview: The UK is
one of the world's great trading powers and financial centers, and its economy
ranks among the four largest in Western Europe. The economy is essentially
capitalistic; over the past thirteen years the ruling Tories have 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, and primary energy production
accounts for 12% 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, now employing only 25% of the work force and generating only
21% of GDP. The economy is emerging out of its 3-year recession with only
weak recovery in 1993; even so, the economy fared better in 1993 than the
economies of most other European countries. Unemployment is hovering around
10% of the labor force. The government in 1992 adopted a pro-growth strategy,
cutting interest rates sharply and removing the pound from the European exchange
rate mechanism. Excess industrial capacity probably will moderate inflation
which for the first time in a decade is below the EC average. The major economic
policy question for Britain in the 1990s is the terms on which it participates
in the financial and economic integration of Europe.
National product:
GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $980.2 billion (1993)
National product real growth rate: 2.1% (1993)
National product per capita:
$16,900 (1993)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2.6%
(1993)
Unemployment rate: 10.3% (1993)
Budget:
revenues $325.5 billion
expenditures $400.9
billion, including capital expenditures of $33 billion (1993 est.)
Exports: $190.1 billion (f.o.b., 1993)
commodities manufactured
goods, machinery, fuels, chemicals, semifinished goods, transport equipment
partners EC countries 56.7% (Germany 14.0%, France 11.1%, Netherlands
7.9%), US 10.9%
Imports: $221.6 billion (c.i.f., 1993)
commodities manufactured goods, machinery, semifinished goods, foodstuffs,
consumer goods
partners EC countries 51.7% (Germany 14.9%, France
9.3%, Netherlands 8.4%), US 11.6%
External debt: $16.2
billion (June 1992)
Industrial production: growth rate
2.2% (1993 est.)
Electricity:
capacity 99,000,000
kW
production 317 billion kWh
consumption per capita
5,480 kWh (1992)
Industries: production machinery
including machine tools, electric power equipment, equipment for the automation
of production, 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
Agriculture: accounts for only
1.5% of GDP and 1% of labor force; highly mechanized and efficient farms;
wide variety of crops and livestock products produced; about 60% self-sufficient
in food and feed needs
Illicit drugs: gateway country for
Latin American cocaine entering the European market; producer of synthetic
drugs; money-laundering center
Economic aid:
donor
ODA and OOF commitments (1992-93), $3.2 billion
Currency:
1 British pound (£) = 100 pence
Exchange rates:
British pounds (£) per US$1 - 0.6699 (January 1994), 0.6033 (1993),
0.5664 (1992), 0.5652 (1991), 0.5603 (1990), 0.6099 (1989)
Fiscal year:
1 April-31 March
Railroads:
UK, 16,914 km total; Great Britain's British Railways (BR) operates 16,584
km 1,435-mm (standard) gauge (including 4,545 km electrified and 12,591 km
double or multiple track), several additional small standard-gauge and narrow-gauge
lines are privately owned and operated; Northern Ireland Railways (NIR) operates
330 km 1,600-mm gauge (including 190 km double track)
Highways:
total 362,982 km (Great Britian 339,483 km; Northern Ireland
23,499 km)
paved 362,390 km (Great Britian 339,483 km, including
2,573 km limited access divided highway; Northern Ireland 22,907 km)
unpaved gravel 592 km (in Northern Ireland)
Inland waterways:
2,291 total; British Waterways Board, 606 km; Port Authorities, 706 km;
other, 979 km
Pipelines: crude oil (almost all insignificant)
933 km; petroleum products 2,993 km; natural gas 12,800 km
Ports: London, Liverpool, Felixstowe, Tees and Hartlepool, Dover, Sullom
Voe, Southampton
Merchant marine: 180 ships (1,000 GRT
or over) totaling 3,428,571 GRT/4,297,489 DWT, bulk 17, cargo 35, chemical
tanker 2, combination bulk 1, container 24, liquefied gas 5, oil tanker 59,
passenger 7, passenger cargo 1, refrigerated cargo 1, roll-on/roll-off cargo
13, short-sea passenger 14, specialized tanker 1
Airports:
total 497
usable 388
with permanent-surface runways
251
with runways over 3,659 m 1
with runways 2,440-3,659 m
37
with runways 1,220-2,439 m 133
Telecommunications:
technologically advanced domestic and international system; 30,200,000
telephones; equal mix of buried cables, microwave and optical-fiber systems;
excellent countrywide broadcast systems; broadcast stations - 225 AM, 525
(mostly repeaters) FM, 207 (3,210 repeaters) TV; 40 coaxial submarine cables;
5 satellite ground stations operating in INTELSAT (7 Atlantic Ocean and 3
Indian Ocean), INMARSAT, and EUTELSAT systems; at least 8 large international
switching centers
Branches:
Army, Royal Navy (including Royal Marines), Royal Air Force
Manpower availability: males age 15-49 14,432,081; fit for military
service 12,056,828
Defense expenditures: exchange rate
conversion - $34.8 billion, 3.7% of GDP (FY93/94)