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. 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 King"[a]

1:04

Royal coat of arms in Scotland:

 Show globe Show map of Europe Show overseas
territories

and Crown dependencies Show all

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 (de facto)

and national language

Regional and minority  Scots

languages[b]  Ulster Scots
 Welsh
 Cornish
 Scottish Gaelic
 Irish
 British Sign Language

Ethnic groups   87.1% White[c][d]
(2011)  7.0% Asian
 3.0% Black
 2.0% Mixed
 0.9% Other

Religion   46.2% Christianity
(2021)  37.2% No religion
 6.5% Islam
 1.7% Hinduism
 2.5% Other
 6% Undeclared
 Demonym(s)  British
 Briton
 Brit (colloquial)

Constituent countries  England

 Scotland
 Wales
 Northern Ireland

Government Unitary[e] parliamentary
constitutional monarchy

• Monarch Charles III

• Prime Minister Rishi Sunak

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
• Treaty of Union 22 July 1706
• Acts of Union of England 1 May 1707
and Scotland
• Acts of Union of Great 1 January 1801
Britain and Ireland
• Irish Free State Constitution 5 December 1922
Act

Area
• Total 242,495 km2 (93,628 sq mi)[7] (78th)
• Water (%) 1.51 (2015)[8]

Population
• 2022 estimate 67,791,400[9] (22nd)
• 2011 census 63,182,178[10] (22nd)
• Density 270.7/km2 (701.1/sq mi) (50th)

GDP (PPP) 2022 estimate
• Total  $3.776 trillion[11] (9th)

• Per capita  $55,862[11] (26th)

GDP (nominal) 2022 estimate
• Total  $3.198 trillion[11] (6th)

• Per capita  $47,318[11] (22nd)

Gini (2019)  36.6[12]
 medium

HDI (2021)  0.929[13]
very high · 18th

Currency Pound sterling[f] (GBP)

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)

Driving side left[h]

Calling code +44[i]

ISO 3166 code GB

Internet TLD .uk[j]

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as

the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain,[k][14] is a country in Europe, off the north-western
coast of the continental mainland.[15] It
comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.[16] 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.[17] Northern Ireland shares a land
border with the Republic of Ireland; otherwise, the United Kingdom is surrounded by
the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea and the Irish
Sea. The total area of the United Kingdom is 242,495 square kilometres
(93,628 sq mi), with an estimated 2020 population of more than 67 million people. [18]
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.[l] 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.[19] There are also 14 British Overseas Territories,[20] 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.[21][22]
The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy.[m]
[24]
 The capital and largest city is London, a global city and financial centre with a
metropolitan area population of over 14 million. Other major cities
include Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Liverpool and Leeds.[25] Scotland, Wales,
and Northern Ireland have their own devolved governments, each with varying
powers.[26] The UK became the world's first industrialised country and was the
world's foremost power during the 19th and early 20th centuries. [27] In the 21st
century, the UK retains considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific,
technological and political influence.[28] The United Kingdom has the world's sixth-
largest economy by nominal gross domestic product (GDP), and the eighth-largest
by purchasing power parity. It has a high-income economy and a very high Human
Development Index rating, ranking 18th in the world. It also performs well
in international rankings of education, healthcare, life expectancy and human
development.[29] It is a recognised nuclear state and is ranked fourth globally in
military expenditure.[30] 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, Five Eyes, the United
Nations, NATO, AUKUS, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD), Interpol, and the World Trade Organization (WTO). It was a
member state of the European Communities (EC) and its successor, the European
Union (EU), from its accession in 1973 until its withdrawal in 2020 following a
referendum held in 2016.