UK Facts and Files

Country name

Conventional long form: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; note - Great Britain includes England, Scotland, and Wales

Conventional short form: United Kingdom

Abbreviation: UK

Government type

Constitutional monarchy and Commonwealth realm

Capital

Name: London

Geographic coordinates: 51 30 N, 0 10 W

Time difference: UTC 0 (5 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)

Daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October

Note: applies to the United Kingdom proper, not to its overseas dependencies or territories

England

34 two-tier counties, 32 London boroughs and 1 City of London or Greater London, 36 metropolitan counties, 46 unitary authorities two-tier counties: Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Devon, Dorset, Durham, East Sussex, Essex, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, North Yorkshire, Northamptonshire, Northumberland, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Shropshire, Somerset, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Warwickshire, West Sussex, Wiltshire, Worcestershire

London boroughs and City of London or Greater London

Barking and Dagenham, Barnet, Bexley, Brent, Bromley, Camden, Croydon, Ealing, Enfield, Greenwich, Hackney, Hammersmith and Fulham, Haringey, Harrow, Havering, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Kingston upon Thames, Lambeth, Lewisham, City of London, Merton, Newham, Redbridge, Richmond upon Thames, Southwark, Sutton, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Wandsworth, Westminster

Metropolitan counties

Barnsley, Birmingham, Bolton, Bradford, Bury, Calderdale, Coventry, Doncaster, Dudley, Gateshead, Kirklees, Knowlsey, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, Oldham, Rochdale, Rotherham, Salford, Sandwell, Sefton, Sheffield, Solihull, South Tyneside, St. Helens, Stockport, Sunderland, Tameside, Trafford, Wakefield, Walsall, Wigan, Wirral, Wolverhampton

Unitary authorities

Bath and North East Somerset, Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool, Bournemouth, Bracknell Forest, Brighton and Hove, City of Bristol, Darlington, Derby, East Riding of Yorkshire, Halton, Hartlepool, County of Herefordshire, Isle of Wight, City of Kingston upon Hull, Leicester, Luton, Medway, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, North East Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire, North Somerset, Nottingham, Peterborough, Plymouth, Poole, Portsmouth, Reading, Redcar and Cleveland, Rutland, Slough, South Gloucestershire, Southampton, Southend-on-Sea, Stockton-on-Tees, Stoke-on-Trent, Swindon, Telford and Wrekin, Thurrock, Torbay, Warrington, West Berkshire, Windsor and Maidenhead, Wokingham, York

Northern Ireland

26 district council areas

District council areas

Antrim, Ards, Armagh, Ballymena, Ballymoney, Banbridge, Belfast, Carrickfergus, Castlereagh, Coleraine, Cookstown, Craigavon, Derry, Down, Dungannon, Fermanagh, Larne, Limavady, Lisburn, Magherafelt, Moyle, Newry and Mourne, Newtownabbey, North Down, Omagh, Strabane

Scotland

32 unitary authorities

Unitary authorities

Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Clackmannanshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Dundee City, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Lothian, East Renfrewshire, City of Edinburgh, Eilean Siar (Western Isles), Falkirk, Fife, Glasgow City, Highland, Inverclyde, Midlothian, Moray, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Orkney Islands, Perth and Kinross, Renfrewshire, Shetland Islands, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire, Stirling, The Scottish Borders, West Dunbartonshire, West Lothian

Wales

22 unitary authorities

Unitary authorities

Blaenau Gwent; Bridgend; Caerphilly; Cardiff; Carmarthenshire; Ceredigion; Conwy; Denbighshire; Flintshire; Gwynedd; Isle of Anglesey; Merthyr Tydfil; Monmouthshire; Neath Port Talbot; Newport; Pembrokeshire; Powys; Rhondda, Cynon, Taff; Swansea; The Vale of Glamorgan; Torfaen; Wrexham

Dependent areas

Anguilla, Bermuda, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, Pitcairn Islands, Saint Helena, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands

Independence

1927; England has existed as a unified entity since the 10th century; the union between England and Wales, begun in 1284 with the Statute of Rhuddlan, was not formalized until 1536 with an Act of Union; in another Act of Union in 1707, England and Scotland agreed to permanently join as Great Britain; the legislative union of Great Britain and Ireland was implemented in 1801, with the adoption of the name the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; the Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921 formalized a partition of Ireland; six northern Irish counties remained part of the United Kingdom as Northern Ireland and the current name of the country, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, was adopted in 1927

National holiday

The UK does not celebrate one particular national holiday

Constitution

Unwritten; partly statutes, partly common law and practice

Legal system

Based on common law tradition with early Roman and modern continental influences; has nonbinding judicial review of Acts of Parliament under the Human Rights Act of 1998; 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 James Gordon BROWN (since 27 June 2007)

Cabinet: Cabinet of Ministers appointed by the prime minister

Elections: the monarchy is hereditary; following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or the leader of the majority coalition is usually the prime minister

Legislative branch

bicameral Parliament consists of House of Lords (740 seats; consisting of approximately 622 life peers, 92 hereditary peers, and 26 clergy - as of 14 December 2009) and House of Commons (646 seats since 2005 elections; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms unless the House is dissolved earlier)

Elections

House of Lords - no elections (note - in 1999, as provided by the House of Lords Act, elections were held in the House of Lords to determine the 92 hereditary peers who would remain there; elections are held only as vacancies in the hereditary peerage arise); House of Commons - last held 5 May 2005 (next to be held by June 2010)

Election results

House of Commons - percent of vote by party - Labor 35.2%, Conservative 32.3%, Liberal Democrats 22%, other 10.5%; seats by party - Labor 355, Conservative 198, Liberal Democrat 62, other 31; seats by party in the House of Commons as of 13 November 2009 - Labor 350, Conservative 193, Liberal Democrat 63, Scottish National Party 7, Plaid Cymru 30, Democratic Unionist 9, Sinn Fein 5, other 16

Note: in 1998 elections were held for a Northern Ireland Assembly (because of unresolved disputes among existing parties, the transfer of power from London to Northern Ireland came only at the end of 1999 and has been suspended four times, the latest occurring in October 2002 and lasting until 8 May 2007); in 1999, the UK held the first elections for a Scottish Parliament and a Welsh Assembly, the most recent of which were held in May 2007

Judicial branch

House of Lords (established in October 2009 taking over appellate jurisdiction formerly vested in the House of Lords); Senior Courts of England and Wales (comprising the Court of Appeal, the High Court of Justice, and the Crown Courts); Scotland's Court of Session and High Court of the Justiciary

Political pressure groups and leaders

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament; Confederation of British Industry; National Farmers' Union; Trades Union Congress

International organization participation

ADB (nonregional member), AfDB (nonregional member), Arctic Council (observer), Australia Group, BIS, C, CBSS (observer), CDB, CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, EIB, ESA, EU, FAO, G-20, G-5, G-7, G-8, G-10, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, Paris Club, PCA, PIF (partner), SECI (observer), UN, UN Security Council, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMIS, UNRWA, UPU, WCO, WEU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC

Diplomatic representation in the US

Chief of mission: Ambassador Sir Nigel E. SHEINWALD

Chancery: 3100 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008

Telephone: [1] (202) 588-6500

FAX: [1] (202) 588-7870

Consulate general: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco

Consulate: Dallas, Denver, Orlando

Diplomatic representation from the US

Chief of mission: Ambassador Louis B. SUSMAN

Embassy: 24 Grosvenor Square, London, W1A 1AE

Mailing address: PSC 801, Box 40, FPO AE 09498-4040

Telephone: [44] (0) 20 7499-9000

FAX: [44] (0) 20 7629-9124

Consulate general: Belfast, Edinburgh

Flag description

Blue field 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); properly known as the Union Flag, but commonly called the Union Jack; the design and colors (especially the Blue Ensign) have been the basis for a number of other flags including other Commonwealth countries and their constituent states or provinces, and British overseas territories

Electricity - production

368.6 billion KWh (2007 EST.)

Country comparison to the world: 12

Electricity - consumption

345.8 billion KWh (2007 EST.)

Country comparison to the world: 12

Electricity - exports

1.272 billion KWh (2008 est.)

Electricity - imports

12.29 billion KWh (2008 EST.)

Oil - production

1.584 million bbl/day (2008 EST.)

Country comparison to the world: 19

Oil - consumption

1.71 million bbl/day (2008 EST.)

Country comparison to the world: 15

Oil - exports

1.602 million bbl/day (2008 EST.)

Country comparison to the world: 15

Oil - imports

1.651 million bbl/day (2008 EST.)

Country comparison to the world: 13

Economy - overview

The UK, a leading trading power and financial center, is one of the quintet of trillion dollar economies of Western Europe. Over the past two decades, the government has 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 less than 2% of the labor force. The UK has large coal, natural gas, and oil resources, but its oil and natural gas reserves are declining and the UK became a net importer of energy in 2005; energy industries now contribute about 4% to GDP. Services, particularly banking, insurance, and business services, account by far for the largest proportion of GDP while industry continues to decline in importance. Since emerging from recession in 1992, Britain's economy enjoyed the longest period of expansion on record during which time growth outpaced most of Western Europe. The global economic slowdown, tight credit, and falling home prices, however, pushed Britain back into recession in the latter half of 2008 and prompted the BROWN government to implement a number of new measures to stimulate the economy and stabilize the financial markets; these include part-nationalizing the banking system, cutting taxes, suspending public sector borrowing rules, and bringing forward public spending on capital projects. The Bank of England periodically coordinates interest rate moves with the European Central Bank, but Britain remains outside the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), and opinion polls show a majority of Britons oppose joining the euro.

GDP (purchasing power parity)

$2.236 trillion (2008 EST.)

Country comparison to the world: 8

$2.22 trillion (2007 EST.)

$2.164 trillion (2006 EST.)

Note: data are in 2008 US dollars

GDP (official exchange rate)

$2.68 trillion (2008 est.)

GDP - real growth rate

0.7% (2008 EST.)

Country comparison to the world: 188

2.6% (2007 EST.)

2.9% (2006 EST.)

GDP - per capita (PPP)

$36,700 (2008 EST.)

Country comparison to the world: 32

$36,500 (2007 EST.)

$35,700 (2006 EST.)

Note: data are in 2008 US dollars

GDP - composition by sector

Agriculture: 1.3%

Industry: 24.2%

Services: 74.5% (2008 EST.)

Labor force

31.23 million (2008 EST.)

Labor force - by occupation

Agriculture: 1.4%

Industry: 18.2%

Unemployment rate

5.6% (2008 EST.)

Country comparison to the world: 69

5.3% (2007 EST.)

Population below poverty line

14% (2006 EST.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Lowest 10%: 2.1%

Highest 10%: 28.5% (1999)

Distribution of family income - Gini index

34 (2005)

Country comparison to the world: 92

Investment (gross fixed)

16.7% of GDP (2008 EST.)

Budget

Revenues: $1.056 trillion

Expenditures: $1.214 trillion (2008 EST.)

Public debt

51.8% of GDP (2008 EST.)

Country comparison to the world: 35

39.6% of GDP (2004 EST.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

3.6% (2008 EST.)

Country comparison to the world: 53 2.3% (2007 EST.)

Central bank discount rate

0.86% (31 December 2008)

Commercial bank prime lending rate

4.63% (31 December 2008)

Country comparison to the world: 137

5.52% (31 December 2007)

Stock of money

$NA (31 December 2008)

Stock of quasi money

$NA (31 December 2008)

Stock of domestic credit

$NA (31 December 2008)

$5.277 trillion (31 December 2007)

Market value of publicly traded shares

$NA (31 December 2008)

Country comparison to the world: 5

$3.859 trillion (31 December 2007)

$3.794 trillion (31 December 2006)

Industries

machine tools, electric power equipment, automation equipment, railroad equipment, shipbuilding, aircraft, motor vehicles and parts, electronics and communications equipment, metals, chemicals, coal, petroleum, paper and paper products, food processing, textiles, clothing, other consumer goods

Imports

$639.3 billion (2008 EST.)

Country comparison to the world: 7

$620.7 billion (2007 EST.)

Imports - commodities

Manufactured goods, machinery, fuels; foodstuffs

Imports - partners

Germany 13.1%, US 8.7%, China 7.5%, Netherlands 7.4%, France 6.8%, Norway 6%, Belgium 4.7%, Italy 4.1% (2008)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

$52.98 billion (31 December 2008 EST.)

Country comparison to the world: 24

$57.3 billion (31 December 2007 EST.)

Debt - external

$9.041 trillion (31 December 2008)

Country comparison to the world: 2

$11.26 trillion (31 December 2007)

Stock of direct foreign investment - at home

$1.445 trillion (31 December 2008 EST.)

Country comparison to the world: 2

$1.348 trillion (31 December 2007 EST.)

Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad

$1.567 trillion (31 December 2008 EST.)

Country comparison to the world: 3

$1.705 trillion (31 December 2007 EST.)

Current account balance

-$45.68 billion (2008 EST.)

Country comparison to the world: 185

Exports - partners

US 13.8%, Germany 11.5%, Netherlands 7.8%, France 7.6%, Ireland 7.5%, Belgium 5.3%, Spain 4.1% (2008)