United Kingdom Country Info - Europe

Description and Basic Information

United Kingdom with its capital London is located in Europe (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). It covers some 244,821 square kilometres (slightly smaller than Oregon) with 60,943,000 citizens. English, Welsh and Gaelic (Scots) are the languages used by people in United Kingdom (consider regional differences). Ireland is a bordering country.

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy comprising most of the British Isles. The Union comprises four constituent nations: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The Great in Great Britain is to distinguish it from the other, smaller Britain: Brittany (Bretagne) in northwestern France. Don't describe citizens of the United Kingdom as English. The Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish do not identify themselves as being from England. If you need to refer to someone's nationality, you can use the most precise term, 'English', 'Northern Irish', 'Welsh' or 'Scottish'. The UK has a benign humid-temperate climate moderated by the North Atlantic current and the country's proximity to the sea. Because the UK stretches nearly a thousand kilometres from end to end, temperatures can vary quite considerably between north and south. All of the UK drives on the left. Most cars in the UK are manual (stick-shift) transmission. The high cost of travelling basics such as transport, accommodation and food means that you will spend at least £50 per day as a budget traveller. This figure climbs higher if you want to use taxis, 3 star hotels, and eat in restaurants. London and the South East can be up to three times as expensive as other parts of the country. Despite jokes and stereotypes, British food is actually very good and internationally orientated British cuisine has improved greatly over the past few decades, and the British remain extremely proud of their native dishes. Restaurants and supermarkets in the middle and upper range have consistently high standards, and the choice of international dishes is among the best in Europe. The legal age to buy and consume alcohol is 18 (16 for a glass of beer, cider, shandy, or perry with a substantial meal and an adult present). The local emergency telephone number is 999; however, the EU-wide 112 can also be used.

Pictures from Capital (London)

Photos provided by Panoramio are under the copyright of their owners.

About United Kingdom

The terrain offers mostly rugged hills and low mountains having level to rolling plains in east and southeast. The average density of population is about 248 per km². The climate in United Kingdom can be described as temperate with moderated by prevailing southwest winds over the North Atlantic Current, more than one-half of the days are overcast. Possible natural disasters include winter windstorms or floods.

To reach someone in United Kingdom dial +44 prior to a number. There are 32,117,000 installed telephones. And there are 80,375,000 registered mobile phones. The cellular networks operate on frequencies of 900, 1800 MHz and 3G. Websites typically end with the top level domain ".uk". If you want to bring electric appliances (e.g. battery charger), keep in mind the local 230V - 50Hz. The following list are the 4 regions/states in United Kingdom we know off.

Demographic Statistics

In the year 2010, the total British population grew at a rate of 0.28% (or by 172,823 citizens). With 612,848 deaths and 653,909 babies born, the natural increase rate lies at 0.07%. 131,762 persons more in total immigrated to the country than emmigrated.

An overview of age distribution in United Kingdom: Each pair of bars represents a single age group (male/female). Each group is spanning 5 years. E.g. 0 to 5 years, 5 to 10 etc. and group "0 to 5" being at the left end and "100 +" at the right end of the chart.

Based on content from wikitravel.org. The original article can be found here based on the work of these users.
Geographic information is based on the data provided by geonames.org, CIA factsbook and Unesco.