United Kingdom
Population:
Mid 2008 estimate: 61.383 million (24.7 million households).
Total land area approximately 245,000 km²
Population density of approximately 250 people per km².
Age Structure:
Under 16 years: 19%
16 – 64 years: 65%
Over 64 years: 16%
Birth Rate: 11.55 births/1,000 population
Death Rate: 9.44 deaths/1,000 population
Net Migration Rate: 2.66 migrants/1,000 population
Legal System:
The UK has 3 distinct jurisdiction i.e. England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, each with their own court systems.
There is no written constitution. Constitutional law comprises both statute law and case law. Judicial precedent is set by judges interpreting statute law.
Official Languages:
No constitutionally official language in the UK but English is de facto the official language. According to the 2001 Census, in addition to English, approximately 20% of people in Wales also speak Welsh and 1% of people in Scotland also speak Gaelic.
There are also numerous languages used domestically by the various ethnic minorities.
Regions:
The United Kingdom Comprises 4 separate countries with the following populations:
England 51.446 million
Northern Ireland 1.775 million
Scotland 5.169 million
Wales 2.993 million
Note: the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are British Crown dependencies and are not technically part of the United Kingdom so are excluded from UK data.
Main Cities:
London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Bristol, Liverpool, Edinburgh.
Economy – Overview:
The UK is a member of the G8 group of leading industrial nations.
Service industries, especially banking and insurance, dominate. (75% of economy)
Industry in decline (24% of economy). Agriculture highly efficient (1% of economy).
The UK has substantial reserves of coal, oil and natural gas but is a net importer of energy. The UK remains outside the European Economic & Monetary Union zone.
Unit of currency is the pound sterling, subdivided into 100 pence.
GDP (purchasing power parity): $2.16 trillion (2009 IMF estimate).
GDP – real growth rate: -2.1% (2009 IMF estimate).
GDP – per capita: $35,286 (2009 IMF estimate).
Labour Force: 30.89 million (2007 estimate).
Unemployment Rate: 7.8% (last quarter 2009)).