United Kingdom

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● "UK" redirects here. For other uses, see United Kingdom (disambiguation) and UK (disambiguation).

● This article is about the country. It is not to be confused with Great Britain, its largest island whose name is also loosely

applied to the whole country.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Flag

Coat of arms

Anthem: "God Save the Queen"[a]

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Royal coat of arms in Scotland:

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Location of the United Kingdom (dark green)

in Europe (dark grey)

Capital London

and largest city

51°30′N 0°7′W

Official language English

and national language

Regional and minority

● Scots

languages[b]
● Ulster Scots

● Welsh

● Cornish

● Scottish Gaelic

● Irish

● British Sign Language

87.1% White[c][d]
Ethnic groups (2011)
●
● 7.0% Asian

● 3.0% Black

● 2.0% Mixed

● 0.9% Other

Religion (2011[6][7]) ● 59.5% Christianity

● 25.7% No religion

● 4.4% Islam

● 1.3% Hinduism
 ● 0.7% Sikhism

● 0.4% Judaism

● 0.4% Buddhism

● 0.4% Other

● 7.2% No answer

Demonym(s)
● British

● Briton

● Brit (colloquial)

Constituent countries
● England

● Scotland

● Wales

● Northern Ireland

Unitary[e] parliamentary
Government

constitutional monarchy

• Monarch Elizabeth II

• Prime Minister Boris Johnson

Legislature Parliament

• Upper house House of Lords

• Lower house House of Commons

Formation

• Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542

• Union of the Crowns 24 March 1603

• Acts of Union of England and 1 May 1707

Scotland

• Acts of Union of Great Britain 1 January 1801

and Ireland

• Irish Free State Constitution 5 December 1922

Act

Area

242,495 km2 (93,628 sq mi)[12] (78th)

• Total

1.51 (2015)[13]
• Water (%)
Population

67,081,000[14] (21st)
• 2020 estimate

63,182,178[15] (22nd)
• 2011 census

270.7/km2 (701.1/sq mi) (50th)

• Density

GDP (PPP) 2021 estimate

$3.276 trillion[16] (10th)

• Total

$48,693[16] (28th)
• Per capita

GDP (nominal) 2021 estimate

$3.108 trillion[16] (5th)

• Total

$46,200[16] (22nd)
• Per capita

36.6[17]
Gini (2019)

medium · 33rd

0.932[18]
HDI (2019)

very high · 13th

Pound sterling[f] (GBP)

Currency

Time zone UTC (Greenwich Mean Time, WET)

• Summer (DST) UTC+1 (British Summer Time, WEST)

[g]

Date format dd/mm/yyyy

yyyy-mm-dd (AD)

Mains electricity 230 V–50 Hz

left[h]
Driving side

+44[i]
Calling code
ISO 3166 code GB

.uk[j]
Internet TLD

Preceded by

Unite

● The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or

Britain,[note 1][19] is a sovereign country in north-western Europe, off the north-western coast of the European

mainland.[20][21] The United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland,

and many smaller islands within the British Isles.[22] Northern Ireland shares a land border with the Republic of Ireland.

Otherwise, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east, the English Channel

to the south and the Celtic Sea to the south-west, giving it the 12th-longest coastline in the world. The Irish Sea

separates Great Britain and Ireland. The total area of the United Kingdom is 93,628 square miles (242,500 km2), with an

estimated population in 2020 of 67 million.[14]

● The United Kingdom is a unitary parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy.[note 2][23][24] The monarch,

Queen Elizabeth II, has reigned since 1952.[25] The capital and largest city is London, a global city and financial centre

with a metropolitan area population of 14 million.[26][27] The United Kingdom consists of four countries: England,

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.[28] Other than England, the constituent countries have their own devolved

governments, each with varying powers.[29][30]

● The United Kingdom has evolved from a series of annexations, unions and separations of constituent countries over

several hundred years. The Treaty of Union between the Kingdom of England (which included Wales, annexed in 1542)

and the Kingdom of Scotland in 1707 formed the Kingdom of Great Britain. Its union in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland

created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Most of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the

present United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which formally adopted that name in 1927.[note 3]
● The nearby Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey are not part of the UK, being Crown Dependencies with the British

Government responsible for defence and international representation.[31] There are also 14 British Overseas Territories,

[32] the last remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, encompassed almost a quarter of the

world's landmass and a third of the world's population, and was the largest empire in history. British influence can be

observed in the language, culture and the legal and political systems of many of its former colonies.[33][34]

● The United Kingdom has the world's fifth-largest economy by nominal gross domestic product (GDP), and the tenth-

largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). It has a high-income economy and a very high human development index

rating, ranking 13th in the world. The UK became the world's first industrialised country and was the world's foremost

power during the 19th and early 20th centuries.[35][36] Today the UK remains one of the world's great powers, with

considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific, technological and political influence internationally.[37][38] It is a

recognised nuclear state and is ranked fourth globally in military expenditure.[39] It has been a permanent member of

the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946.

● The United Kingdom is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the Council of Europe, the G7, the Group of Ten,

the G20, the United Nations, NATO, AUKUS, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD),

Interpol, and the World Trade Organization (WTO). It was a