United Kingdom

Table of Contents

Introduction & Quick Facts
Land
- Relief
  - The highland zone
  - The lowland zone
- Drainage
- Soils
- Climate
- Plant and animal life
People
- Ethnic groups
- Languages
- Religion
- Settlement patterns
  - Rural settlement
  - Urban settlement
- Demographic trends
  - Population growth
  - Migration patterns
Economy
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing
  - Agriculture
  - Forestry
  - Fishing
- Resources and power
  - Minerals
  - Energy
- Manufacturing
- Finance
- Trade
- Services
- Labour and taxation
- Transportation and telecommunications
Government and society
- Constitutional framework
- Regional government
- Local government
- Justice
- Political process
- Security
- Health and welfare
  - The National Health Service
  - Cash benefits
- Housing
- Education
  - Primary and secondary education
  - Private schools
  - Higher education
Cultural life
- Daily life and social customs
- The arts
- Cultural institutions
- Sports and recreation
- Media and publishing
  - Newspapers
  - Broadcasting
History
- Ancient Britain
  - Pre-Roman Britain
    - Neolithic Period
    - Bronze Age
    - Iron Age
  - Roman Britain
    - The conquest
    - Condition of the province
      Army and frontier
      Administration
    - Roman society
      Economy
      Towns
      Villas
      Religion and culture
    - The decline of Roman rule
- Anglo-Saxon England
  - The invaders and their early settlements
    - The social system
    - The conversion to Christianity
    - The golden age of Bede
  - The heptarchy
    - The supremacy of Northumbria and the rise of Mercia
    - The great age of Mercia
    - The church and scholarship in Offa’s time
    - The decline of Mercia and the rise of Wessex
  - The period of the Scandinavian invasions
    - Viking invasions and settlements
    - Alfred’s government and his revival of learning
  - The achievement of political unity
    - The reconquest of the Danelaw
    - The kingdom of England
    - The church and the monastic revival
  - The Anglo-Danish state
    - The Danish conquest and the reigns of the Danish kings
    - The reign of Edward the Confessor and the Norman Conquest
- The Normans (1066–1154)
  - William I (1066–87)
    - Resistance and rebellion
    - The introduction of feudalism
    - Government and justice
    - Church–state relations
    - William’s accomplishments
  - The sons of William I
    - William II Rufus (1087–1100)
    - Henry I (1100–35)
  - The period of anarchy (1135–54)
    - Matilda and Stephen
    - Civil war
  - England in the Norman period
- The early Plantagenets
  - Henry II (1154–89)
    - Government of England
    - Struggle with Thomas Becket
    - Rebellion of Henry’s sons and Eleanor of Aquitaine
  - Richard I (1189–99)
  - John (1199–1216)
    - Loss of French possessions
    - Struggle with the papacy
    - Revolt of the barons and Magna Carta
    - Economy and society
- The 13th century
  - Henry III (1216–72)
    - Minority
    - Early reign
    - The county communities
    - Simon de Montfort and the Barons’ War
    - Later reign
  - Edward I (1272–1307)
    - Law and government
    - Finance
    - The growth of Parliament
    - Edward’s wars
    - Domestic difficulties
  - Social, economic, and cultural change
- The 14th century
  - Edward II (1307–27)
  - Edward III (1327–77)
    - The Hundred Years’ War to 1360
    - Domestic achievements
    - Law and order
    - The crises of Edward’s later years
  - Richard II (1377–99)
    - The Peasants’ Revolt (1381)
    - John Wycliffe
    - Political struggles and Richard’s deposition
  - Economic crisis and cultural change
- Lancaster and York
  - Henry IV (1399–1413)
    - The rebellions
    - Henry and Parliament
  - Henry V (1413–22)
    - The French war
    - Domestic affairs
  - Henry VI (1422–61 and 1470–71)
    - Domestic rivalries and the loss of France
    - Cade’s rebellion
    - The beginning of the Wars of the Roses
  - Edward IV (1461–70 and 1471–83)
  - Richard III (1483–85)
  - England in the 15th century
- England under the Tudors
  - Henry VII (1485–1509)
    - Economy and society
    - Dynastic threats
    - Financial policy
    - The administration of justice
  - Henry VIII (1509–47)
    - Cardinal Wolsey
    - The king’s “Great Matter”
    - The Reformation background
    - The break with Rome
    - The consolidation of the Reformation
    - The expansion of the English state
    - Henry’s last years
  - Edward VI (1547–53)
  - Mary I (1553–58)
  - Elizabeth I (1558–1603)
    - The Tudor ideal of government
    - Elizabethan society
    - Mary, Queen of Scots
    - The clash with Spain
    - Internal discontent
- The early Stuarts and the Commonwealth
  - England in 1603
    - Economy and society
    - Government and society
  - James I (1603–25)
    - Triple monarchy
    - Religious policy
    - Finance and politics
    - Factions and favourites
  - Charles I (1625–49)
    - The politics of war
    - Peace and reform
    - Religious reform
    - The Long Parliament
    - Civil war and revolution
    - Commonwealth and Protectorate
- The later Stuarts
  - Charles II (1660–85)
    - The Restoration
    - War and government
    - The Popish Plot
    - The exclusion crisis and the Tory reaction
  - James II (1685–88)
    - Church and king
    - The Revolution of 1688
  - William III (1689–1702) and Mary II (1689–94)
    - The revolution settlement
    - A new society
    - The sinews of war
  - Anne (1702–14)
    - Whigs and Tories
    - Tories and Jacobites
- 18th-century Britain, 1714–1815
  - The state of Britain in 1714
  - Britain from 1715 to 1742
    - The supremacy of the Whigs
    - Robert Walpole
      George II and Walpole
      Foreign policy
      Religious policy
      Economic policies
    - The electoral system
    - Walpole’s loss of power
  - Britain from 1742 to 1754
    - The Jacobite rebellion
    - The rule of the Pelhams
    - Domestic reforms
  - British society by the mid-18th century
    - Joseph Massie’s categories
    - Urban development
    - Change and continuity
    - The revolution in communications
  - Britain from 1754 to 1783
    - Conflict abroad
    - Political instability in Britain
    - The American Revolution
    - Domestic responses to the American Revolution
  - Britain from 1783 to 1815
    - William Pitt the Younger
    - Economic growth and prosperity
    - The Industrial Revolution
    - Britain during the French Revolution
    - The Napoleonic Wars
    - Imperial expansion
- Great Britain, 1815–1914
  - Britain after the Napoleonic Wars
    - State and society
    - The political situation
  - Early and mid-Victorian Britain
    - State and society
    - The political situation
      Whig reforms
      Chartism and the Anti-Corn Law League
      Peel and the Peelite heritage
      Palmerston
      Gladstone and Disraeli
    - Economy and society
    - Cultural change
      The development of private life
      Religion
      Leisure
  - Late Victorian Britain
    - State and society
    - The political situation
      Gladstone and Chamberlain
      The Irish question
      Split of the Liberal Party
      Imperialism and British politics
      The return of the Liberals
      The international crisis
    - Economy and society
    - Family and gender
    - Mass culture
- Britain from 1914 to the present
  - The political situation
    - World War I
      The Asquith coalition
      Lloyd George
    - Between the wars
      The election of 1918
      Harsh peace and hard times
      Ireland and the return of the Conservatives
      The Baldwin era
      Baldwin and the abdication crisis
      Foreign policy and appeasement
    - World War II
      The phases of war
      Political developments
    - Britain since 1945
      Labour and the welfare state (1945–51)
      Economic crisis and relief (1947)
      Withdrawal from the empire
      Conservative government (1951–64)
      Labour interlude (1964–70)
      The return of the Conservatives (1970–74)
      Labour back in power (1974–79)
      The Margaret Thatcher government (1979–90)
      The Falkland Islands War, the 1983 election, and privatization
      Racial discrimination and the 1981 England riots
      The 2001 England riots
      The “Troubles” in Northern Ireland
      “Thatcherism”
      The government of John Major (1990–97)
      “Black Wednesday,” epidemic scandals, and Major’s “Citizens Charter”
      “Mad cow disease”
      The Tony Blair government (1997–2007)
      The struggle for control of Labour
      New Labour, the repeal of Clause IV, and the “third way”
      Navigating the European monetary system and the EU Social Chapter
      The Good Friday Agreement
      London’s local government, House of Lords reform, and devolution for Scotland and Wales
      The royal family’s “annus horribilis,” the death of Princess Diana, and the Millennium Dome
      The battle for the soul of the Conservative Party
      Response to the September 11 attacks
      Weapons of mass destruction and the Iraq War
      The Gordon Brown government (2007–10)
      Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition rule (2010–15)
      The U.K. general election of 2010
      First-past-the-post referendum
      Intervention in Libya
      News of the World hacking scandal
      The 2011 riots, the European sovereign debt crisis, and Cameron’s veto of changes to the Lisbon Treaty
      The 2012 London Olympics, Julian Assange’s embassy refuge, and the emergence of UKIP
      The birth of George, rejection of intervention in Syria, and regulation of GCHQ
      Euroskepticism
      Scottish independence referendum
      Economic recovery
      David Cameron on his own (2015–16)
      The U.K. general election of 2015
      The “Brexit” referendum
      The premiership of Theresa May (2016–19)
      The resignation of Cameron, the rise of May, and a challenge to Corbyn’s leadership of Labour
      Triggering Article 50
      The Manchester arena bombing and London bridge attacks
      The snap election campaign
      The 2017 U.K. general election
      The Grenfell Tower fire, a novichok attack in Salisbury, and air strikes on Syria
      The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Chequers plan, and Boris Johnson’s resignation
      EU agreement and Parliamentary opposition to May’s Brexit plan
      Objections to the Irish backstop and a challenge to May’s leadership
      Parliamentary rejection of May’s plan, May’s survival of a confidence vote, and the Independent Group of breakaway MPs
      Parliament rejects May’s plan again
      “Indicative votes,” May’s pledge to resign, a third defeat for her plan, and a new deadline
      The Boris Johnson government
      Boris Johnson’s ascent, the December 2019 snap election, and Brexit
      The coronavirus pandemic
      “Partygate”
      Further scandal and Johnson’s resignation
      The premiership of Liz Truss
      Ascent to office
      The death of Elizabeth II
      Abrupt resignation
      The premiership of Rishi Sunak
  - Society, state, and economy
    - State and society
    - Economy and society
    - Family and gender
    - Mass culture
Sovereigns of Britain
Prime ministers of Great Britain and the United Kingdom

References & Edit History Facts & Stats

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United Kingdom: Facts & Stats

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

The United Kingdom (U.K.) is a country located off the northwestern coast of mainland Europe. It consists of four countries: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The U.K. has a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy, and its capital is London. It played a key role in the Industrial Revolution and colonialism. The U.K.'s decision to leave the European Union, known as Brexit, has had significant political and economic implications.

Facts

Also Known As	Great Britain • Britain • U.K. • United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Head Of Government	Prime Minister: Keir Starmer
Capital	London
Population	(2024 est.) 68,278,000
Currency Exchange Rate	1 USD equals 0.800 British pound
Head Of State	Sovereign: King Charles III
Form Of Government	constitutional monarchy with two legislative houses (House of Lords [794¹]; House of Commons [650])
Official Languages	English; both English and Scots Gaelic in Scotland; both English and Welsh in Wales
Official Religion	See footnote 2.
Official Name	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Total Area (Sq Km)	242,500
Total Area (Sq Mi)	93,629
Monetary Unit	pound sterling (£)
Population Rank	(2023) 20
Population Projection 2030	70,338,000
Density: Persons Per Sq Mi	(2024) 729.3
Density: Person Per Sq Km	(2024) 281.6
Urban-Rural Population	Urban: (2018) 83.4% • Rural: (2018) 16.6%
Life Expectancy At Birth	Male: (2020–2022) 78.6 years • Female: (2020–2022) 82.6 years
Literacy: Percentage Of Population Age 15 And Over Literate	Male: (2006) 99% • Female: (2006) 99%
Gni (U.S.$ ’000,000)	(2023) 3,266,990
Gni Per Capita (U.S.$)	(2023) 47,800
¹Active members as of February 2020: 89 hereditary peers, 679 life peers, and 26 archbishops and bishops.²Church of England “established” (protected by the state but not “official”); Church of Scotland “national” (exclusive jurisdiction in spiritual matters per Church of Scotland Act 1921); no established church in Northern Ireland or Wales.

Top Questions

What countries make up the United Kingdom?

The United Kingdom consists of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

What is the climate like in the United Kingdom?

The United Kingdom has a temperate climate, characterized by mild winters, warm summers, and high yearly rainfall due to southwesterly winds from the Atlantic Ocean.

What is the most widely spoken language in the United Kingdom after English and Welsh?

Polish is the most widely spoken language in the United Kingdom after English and Welsh, with 546,000 speakers.

What was the first postage stamp issued in the U.K.?

The first postage stamp issued in the United Kingdom was called the 'Penny Black' and featured Queen Victoria, introduced in May 1840.

Did You Know?

The U.K. is the only country not required to name itself on its postage stamps.
The U.K. has more than 40 different dialects, reflecting its rich linguistic diversity.
The national animal of Scotland is the unicorn.
The Great Fire of London in 1666 destroyed large parts of the city but resulted in only six recorded casualties.

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