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The United Kingdom is a country in Northern Europe. It consists of four separate countries, England, Scotland and Wales, which are on an island called Great Britain, and Northern Ireland which shares another island to the west of Great Britain with the country of Ireland. There are other islands around Great Britain which are part of the United Kingdom.

The United Kingdom is surrounded by the North Sea, the English Channel, the Irish Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

The land is full of hills and low mountains with rolling plains in the south and east.

The geographical coordinates for the centre of United Kingdom, also known as lines of latitude and longitude, are:-
Latitude - 54 00N
Longitude - 2 00W

The capital of the United Kingdom is London.

The United Kingdom is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy with a King or Queen as Head of State. They do not have significant powers and the country is run by a government of which the Prime Minister is the head. The present King (2022) is Charles III who began his reign on the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II on 8 September 2022. She had reigned since 1952. Charles was 73 he came to the throne. His heir is his eldest son Prince William, Prince of Wales.

In elections everyone over the age of 18 can vote.

The currency in the United Kingdom is the pound. The United Kingdom joined the European Union in 1973. In 2016, the UK voted to leave the EU and did so on 31 January 2020 although remaining under EU rules and law until 31 December 2020. The United Kingdom is a member of the Commonwealth.

English is the official language.

Check the weather in London now.

This is the time in London now

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The United Kingdom flag is a blue background with a red cross edged in white and superimposed over the diagonal red cross of St Patrick (patron saint of Ireland, which is edged with the white diagonal cross of Saint Andrew (patron saint of Scotland).

Hear the National Anthem



These are the anthem words

The words ×

These are the words to the United Kingdom National Anthem called God Save The King (or Queen). It was adopted in 1745.

If anthem has failed to play click here

God save our gracious King,
Long live our noble King,
God save the King:
Send him victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us:
God save the King.

O Lord, our God, arise,
Scatter his enemies,
And make them fall.
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On Thee our hopes we fix,
God save us all.

Thy choicest gifts in store,
On him be pleased to pour;
Long may he reign:
May he defend our laws,
And ever give us cause
To sing with heart and voice
God save the King

The Land
The People
Life and Death
Health, Energy and the Environment
Education and Work
Travel, Communication and the Media

The total land area of the United Kingdom is 241,930 sq kms which is the 10th largest in Europe.

The United Kingdom has lakes, rivers and canals which total 1,680 sq kms.

The United Kingdom has boundaries with 1 country.

• Ireland 443 kms

The United Kingdom has a coastline of 12,429 kms which is the 3rd longest in Europe.

The highest point in the United Kingdom is Ben Nevis at 1,343 metres.

The pie chart below shows how the land is split between agricultural land (crops and pastures), forests and other, which can be towns, villages, desert or frozen waste called tundra.

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The total population of the United Kingdom is 64.43 million people, making it the 2nd largest country in Europe by population. Of this number 32.37 million are females and 32.06 million are males.

A person from the United Kingdom is British but, depending on which of the four countries they come from, they may be English, Irish, Scottish or Welsh.

To be a citizen of the United Kingdom, one of your parents must be a citizen of the United Kingdom. It is not sufficient to be born in the United Kingdom. You have to live in United Kingdom for 5 years before you can begin to apply for citizenship.

The largest five cities in the United Kingdom, by population are:-

• London 7,556,900 people
• Birmingham 984,333
• Glasgow (in Scotland) 610,268
• Liverpool 468,945
• Leeds 455,123

For each country we will give you a diagram showing the population density. This is the average number of people for each square kilometre. Each little Owlbut is 1 person and the big yellow rectangle is 1 sq km. After a while you can compare countries and see which ones are the most crowded. Remember it is only an average as more people live closer together in towns and cities than in villages out in the country.



82.6% of the people live in cities or towns.

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The birth rate in the United Kingdom is 12.1 births per 1,000 of population.

The death rate in the United Kingdom is 9.4 deaths per 1,000 people.

Check this against the birth rate. If the death rate is higher than the birth rate then the population will decrease unless immigrants arrive in the country.

There are 3.9 deaths of girls under 1 year per 1,000 of births and 4.7 deaths of boys.

The median age for females is 41.7 and for males is 39.3. The median age is that age which divides the population exactly in half so there are the same number of people above the median age as below it.

The average age of a woman when she has her first child is 28.1.

The elderly dependency ratio is 28.2. This is the number of elderly people (ages 65+) per 100 people of working age (ages 15-64).

The potential support ratio is 3.5. This is the number of working-age people (ages 15-64) per one elderly person (ages 65+). As a population ages, the potential support ratio tends to fall, meaning there are fewer potential workers to support the elderly.

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The United Kingdom spends 9.1% of its total income on health care.

There are 2.81 doctors per 1,000 people.

There are 2.9 hospital beds per 1,000 people.

27.8% of the population are estimated as obese.

100% of British people have drinking water that is either piped into their home or they have access to a public tap, a protected borehole, well, spring or protected rainwater collection facility.

99.1% of the urban population and 99.6% of the rural population have access to a flushing toilet that is connected to a sewer, a pit latrine (that is a permanent hole in the ground that is looked after) or a composting toilet.

The United Kingdom releases 568.3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels in the process of producing and consuming energy. This puts it as the 2nd highest in Europe.

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The United Kingdom spends 5.8% of its total income on education.

Children usually start school at age 5 in the United Kingdom. Primary education is for six years until age 11 and secondary education must continue till 16 but can go on to 18/19. This may be followed by further education at a university or college.

Generally the school year consists of 3 terms and starts in the first week in September and finishes in the third week in July. There is usually a 2 week break at Christmas and Easter, and a one week break in the middle of each term.

We have no figures for the number of people who are able to read and write by the age of 15.

13% of all people aged between 16 and 24 are not in work. Among males 14.8% are unemployed while with females 11.1% can't find work.

The total number of people available for work in the United Kingdom is 33.17 million.

They work in the following sectors.

• Agriculture includes farming, fishing and forestry work
• Industry includes mining, manufacturing, construction and energy workers
• Services is everything else

5.1% of the workforce are unemployed.

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There are 271 paved airports in the United Kingdom, which is the 3rd highest number in Europe.


There are 16,837 kilometres of railways in the United Kingdom, which is the 6th longest in Europe.


There are 394,428 kilometres of roads in the United Kingdom, which means the United Kingdom is in 5th place for the most kilometres of roads in Europe.

There are 8 major national newspapers in the United Kingdom.

There are 80.3 million mobile phone users which is greater than the total population. This means some people will have more than one mobile.

52% of the people have a fixed landline.



58.9 million people have access to the internet at home via any device (computer or mobile).

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