United Kingdom: Difference between revisions

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Ulster‑Scots: [Claught Kängrick o Docht Brätain an Norlin Airlann] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized language tag: sco-UKN (help) Scottish Gaelic: Rìoghachd Aonaichte Bhreatainn is Èireann a Tuath Welsh: Teyrnas Unedig Prydain Fawr a Gogledd Iwerddon
Flag Royal coat of arms [nb 1]
Anthem: " Black 2.0% Mixed 0.9% others
Demonym(s)	British Briton
Government	Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy
• Monarch	Elizabeth II
• Prime Minister	David Cameron
Legislature	EEC accession[nb 4]	1 January 1973
left
Calling code	+44
ISO 3166 code	GB
Internet TLD	.uk

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain,

The 1707 Acts of Union declared that the kingdoms of England and Scotland were "United into One Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain", though the new state is also referred to in the Acts as the "Kingdom of Great Britain", "United Kingdom of Great Britain" and "United Kingdom".^{[23][24][nb 8]} However, the term "united kingdom" is only found in informal use during the 18th century and the country was only occasionally referred to as the "United Kingdom of Great Britain" — its full official name, from 1707 to 1800, being merely Great Britain, without a "long form".^{[25][26][27][28][29]} The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland in 1801, forming the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The name "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" was adopted following the independence of the Irish Free State, and the partition of Ireland, in 1922, which left Northern Ireland as the only part of the island of Ireland within the UK.^[30]

Although the United Kingdom, as a sovereign state, is a country, England, Scotland, Wales, and to a lesser degree, Northern Ireland, are also regarded as countries, though they are not sovereign states.

The term Britain is often used as synonym for the United Kingdom. The term Great Britain, by contrast, refers conventionally to the island of Great Britain, or politically to England, Scotland and Wales in combination.[39]^[40][41] However, it is sometimes used as a loose synonym for the United Kingdom as a whole.^[42][43] GB and GBR are the standard country codes for the United Kingdom (see ISO 3166-2 and ISO 3166-1 alpha-3) and are consequently used by international organisations to refer to the United Kingdom. Additionally, the United Kingdom's Olympic team competes under the name "Great Britain" or "Team GB".^[44][45]

The adjective British is commonly used to refer to matters relating to the United Kingdom. The term has no definite legal connotation, but is used in law to refer to UK citizenship and matters to do with nationality.^[46] People of the United Kingdom use a number of different terms to describe their national identity and may identify themselves as being British; or as being English, Scottish, Welsh, Northern Irish, or Irish;^[47] or as being both.^[48]

In 2006, a new design of British passport was introduced. Its first page shows the long form name of the state in English, Welsh and Scottish Gaelic.^[49] In Welsh, the long form name of the state is "Teyrnas Unedig Prydain Fawr a Gogledd Iwerddon" with "Teyrnas Unedig" being used as a short form name on government websites.^[50] (However it is usually abbreviated to "DU" for the mutated form "Y Deyrnas Unedig".) In Scottish Gaelic, the long form is "Rìoghachd Aonaichte Bhreatainn is Èireann a Tuath" and the short form "Rìoghachd Aonaichte".

History

Before 1707

Settlement by

In 1603, the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland were united in a

On 1 May 1707, the united Kingdom of Great Britain came into being, the result of Acts of Union being passed by the parliaments of England and Scotland to ratify the 1706 Treaty of Union and so unite the two kingdoms.^[74][75][76]

In the 18th century, cabinet government developed under

After the defeat of France in the

The UK fought with France, Russia and (after 1917) the US, against Germany and its allies in World War I (1914–18).^[90] The UK armed forces were engaged across much of the British Empire and in several regions of Europe, particularly on the Western front.^[91] The high fatalities of trench warfare caused the loss of much of a generation of men, with lasting social effects in the nation and a great disruption in the social order.

After the war, the UK received the

In the immediate post-war years, the

The total area of the United Kingdom is approximately 243,610 square kilometres (94,060 sq mi). The country occupies the major part of the

The United Kingdom lies between latitudes 49° to 61° N, and longitudes 9° W to 2° E. Northern Ireland shares a 224-mile (360 km) land boundary with the Republic of Ireland.^[115] The coastline of Great Britain is 11,073 miles (17,820 km) long.^[118] It is connected to continental Europe by the Channel Tunnel, which at 31 miles (50 km) (24 miles (38 km) underwater) is the longest underwater tunnel in the world.^[119]

Scotland accounts for just under a third of the total area of the UK, covering 78,772 square kilometres (30,410 sq mi)^[121] and including nearly eight hundred islands,^[122] predominantly west and north of the mainland; notably the Hebrides, Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands. The topography of Scotland is distinguished by the Highland Boundary Fault – a geological rock fracture – which traverses Scotland from Arran in the west to Stonehaven in the east.^[123] The faultline separates two distinctively different regions; namely the Highlands to the north and west and the lowlands to the south and east. The more rugged Highland region contains the majority of Scotland's mountainous land, including Ben Nevis which at 1,343 metres (4,406 ft) is the highest point in the British Isles.^[124] Lowland areas – especially the narrow waist of land between the Firth of Clyde and the Firth of Forth known as the Central Belt – are flatter and home to most of the population including Glasgow, Scotland's largest city, and Edinburgh, its capital and political centre.

Wales accounts for less than a tenth of the total area of the UK, covering 20,779 square kilometres (8,020 sq mi).^[125] Wales is mostly mountainous, though South Wales is less mountainous than North and mid Wales. The main population and industrial areas are in South Wales, consisting of the coastal cities of Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, and the South Wales Valleys to their north. The highest mountains in Wales are in Snowdonia and include Snowdon (Welsh: Yr Wyddfa) which, at 1,085 metres (3,560 ft), is the highest peak in Wales.^[116] The 14, or possibly 15, Welsh mountains over 3,000 feet (914 m) high are known collectively as the Welsh 3000s. Wales has over 2,704 kilometres (1,680 miles) of coastline.^[118] Several islands lie off the Welsh mainland, the largest of which is Anglesey (Ynys Môn) in the northwest.

Northern Ireland, separated from Great Britain by the Irish Sea and North Channel, has an area of 14,160 square kilometres (5,470 sq mi) and is mostly hilly. It includes Lough Neagh which, at 388 square kilometres (150 sq mi), is the largest lake in the British Isles by area.^[126] The highest peak in Northern Ireland is Slieve Donard in the Mourne Mountains at 852 metres (2,795 ft).^[116]

Climate

The United Kingdom has a temperate climate, with plentiful rainfall all year round.^[115] The temperature varies with the seasons seldom dropping below −11 °C (12 °F) or rising above 35 °C (95 °F).^[127] The prevailing wind is from the south-west and bears frequent spells of mild and wet weather from the Atlantic Ocean,^[115] although the eastern parts are mostly sheltered from this wind since the majority of the rain falls over the western regions the eastern parts are therefore the driest. Atlantic currents, warmed by the Gulf Stream, bring mild winters;^[128] especially in the west where winters are wet and even more so over high ground. Summers are warmest in the south-east of England, being closest to the European mainland, and coolest in the north. Heavy snowfall can occur in winter and early spring on high ground, and occasionally settles to great depth away from the hills.

Administrative divisions

Template:UK location map Each country of the United Kingdom has its own system of administrative and geographic demarcation, whose origins often pre-date the formation of the United Kingdom. Thus there is "no common stratum of administrative unit encompassing the United Kingdom".^[129] Until the 19th century there was little change to those arrangements, but there has since been a constant evolution of role and function.^[130] Change did not occur in a uniform manner and the devolution of power over local government to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland means that future changes are also unlikely to be uniform.

The organisation of

Local government in Northern Ireland has since 1973 been organised into 26 district councils, each elected by single transferable vote. Their powers are limited to services such as collecting waste, controlling dogs and maintaining parks and cemeteries.^[140] On 13 March 2008 the executive agreed on proposals to create 11 new councils and replace the present system.^[141] The next local elections were postponed until 2016 to facilitate this.^[142]

Dependencies

The United Kingdom has sovereignty over seventeen territories which do not form part of the United Kingdom itself: fourteen British Overseas Territories^[16] and three Crown dependencies.^[16][145]

The fourteen British Overseas Territories are:

The United Kingdom is a

The UK has a

The position of prime minister,^{[nb 9]} the UK's head of government,^[157] belongs to the person most likely to command the confidence of the House of Commons; this individual is typically the leader of the political party or coalition of parties that holds the largest number of seats in that chamber. The prime minister chooses a cabinet and its members are formally appointed by the monarch to form Her Majesty's Government. By convention, the Queen respects the prime minister's decisions of government.^[158]

The

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each have their own

The United Kingdom does not have a single legal system, as Article 19 of the

Scots law is a hybrid system based on both common-law and

Foreign relations

Main article: Foreign relations of the United Kingdom

The UK is a

British-Irish Council. Britain's global presence and influence is further amplified through its trading relations, foreign investments, official development assistance and military engagements.^[199]

Military

Main article: British Armed Forces

The

Cyprus, Diego Garcia, the Falkland Islands, Germany, Gibraltar, Kenya, Qatar and Singapore.^[202][203]

The British armed forces played a key role in establishing the

Iraq and, most recently, Libya, have followed this approach. The last time the British military fought alone was the Falklands War

of 1982.

According to various sources, including the

military expenditure in the world. Total defence spending currently accounts for around 2.4% of total national GDP.^[21][22]

Economy

Main article: Economy of the United Kingdom

The UK has a partially regulated market economy.^[205] Based on market exchange rates the UK is today the fifth-largest economy in the world and the second-largest in Europe after Germany. HM Treasury, led by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, is responsible for developing and executing the British government's public finance policy and economic policy. The Bank of England is the UK's central bank and is responsible for issuing notes and coins in the nation's currency, the pound sterling. Banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland retain the right to issue their own notes, subject to retaining enough Bank of England notes in reserve to cover their issue. Pound sterling is the world's third-largest reserve currency (after the US Dollar and the Euro).^[206] Since 1997 the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee, headed by the Governor of the Bank of England, has been responsible for setting interest rates at the level necessary to achieve the overall inflation target for the economy that is set by the Chancellor each year.^[207]

The UK service sector makes up around 73% of GDP.^[208] London is one of the three "command centres" of the global economy (alongside New York City and Tokyo),^[209] it is the world's largest financial centre alongside New York,^{[210][211][212]} and it has the largest city GDP in Europe.^[213] Edinburgh is also one of the largest financial centres in Europe.^[214] Tourism is very important to the British economy and, with over 27 million tourists arriving in 2004, the United Kingdom is ranked as the sixth major tourist destination in the world and London has the most international visitors of any city in the world.^[215][216] The creative industries accounted for 7% GVA in 2005 and grew at an average of 6% per annum between 1997 and 2005.^[217]

The Industrial Revolution started in the UK with an initial concentration on the textile industry,^[218] followed by other heavy industries such as shipbuilding, coal mining and steelmaking.^[219][220] British merchants, shippers and bankers developed overwhelming advantage over those of other nations allowing the UK to dominate international trade in the 19th century.^[221][222] As other nations industrialised, coupled with economic decline after two world wars, the United Kingdom began to lose its competitive advantage and heavy industry declined, by degrees, throughout the 20th century. Manufacturing remains a significant part of the economy but accounted for only 16.7% of national output in 2003.^[223]

The automotive industry is a significant part of the UK manufacturing sector and employs over 800,000 people, with a turnover of some £52 billion, generating £26.6 billion of exports.^[224]

The

GKN Aerospace – an expert in metallic and composite aerostructures that's involved in almost every civil and military fixed and rotary wing aircraft in production and development today.^{[225][226][227][226][228][227][228]}

Agusta Westland designs and manufactures complete helicopters in the UK.^[228]

The UK space industry is growing very fast. Worth £9.1bn in 2011 and employing 29,000 people, it is growing at a rate of some 7.5% annually, according to its umbrella organisation, the UK Space Agency. Government strategy is for the space industry to be a £40bn business for the UK by 2030, capturing a 10% share of the $250bn world market for commercial space technology.^[228] On 16 July 2013, the British government pledged £60 m to the Skylon project: this investment will provide support at a "crucial stage" to allow a full-scale prototype of the SABRE engine to be built.

The pharmaceutical industry plays an important role in the UK economy and the country has the third-highest share of global pharmaceutical R&D expenditures (after the United States and Japan).^[230][231]

Agriculture is intensive, highly mechanised and efficient by European standards, producing about 60% of food needs with less than 1.6% of the labour force (535,000 workers).^[232] Around two-thirds of production is devoted to livestock, one-third to arable crops. Farmers are subsidised by the EU's Common Agricultural Policy. The UK retains a significant, though much reduced fishing industry. It is also rich in a number of natural resources including coal, petroleum, natural gas, tin, limestone, iron ore, salt, clay, chalk, gypsum, lead, silica and an abundance of arable land.

financial centres^{[210][211][212]}

In the final quarter of 2008, as a result of the

Standard & Poor's.^[237][238]

However, by the end of 2014, UK growth was the fastest in the G7, the fastest in Europe.[239]^[240]

Inflation- As a direct result of the Great Recession between 2010 and the third quarter of 2012 wages in the UK fell by 3,2%^[241] but by 2014, real wages had grown by 2%, moving out and above inflation for the first time since 2007.^[242] Since the 1980s, UK economic inequality, like Canada, Australia and the United States has grown faster than in other developed countries.^[243][244]

The

relative poverty than all but four other EU members.^[245] In the same year 4.0 million children, 31% of the total, lived in households below the poverty line after housing costs were taken into account. This is a decrease of 400,000 children since 1998–1999.^[246] The UK imports 40% of its food supplies.^[247] The Office for National Statistics has estimated that in 2011, 14 million people were at risk of poverty or social exclusion, and that one person in 20 (5.1%) was now experiencing "severe material depression",^[248] up from 3 million people in 1977.^[249][250]

Science and technology

Main article: Science and technology in the United Kingdom

England and Scotland were leading centres of the

black holes.^[254]

Major scientific discoveries from the 18th century include hydrogen by Henry Cavendish;^[255] from the 20th century penicillin by Alexander Fleming,^[256] and the structure of DNA, by Francis Crick and others.^[257] Famous British engineers and inventors of the Industrial Revolution include James Watt, George Stephenson, Richard Arkwright, Robert Stephenson and Isambard Kingdom Brunel.^[258] Other major engineering projects and applications by people from the UK include the steam locomotive, developed by Richard Trevithick and Andrew Vivian;^[259] from the 19th century the electric motor by Michael Faraday, the incandescent light bulb by Joseph Swan,^[260] and the first practical telephone, patented by Alexander Graham Bell;^[261] and in the 20th century the world's first working television system by John Logie Baird and others,^[262] the jet engine by Frank Whittle, the basis of the modern computer by Alan Turing, and the World Wide Web by Tim Berners-Lee.^[263]

Scientific research and development remains important in British universities, with many establishing

A radial road network totals 29,145 miles (46,904 km) of main roads, 2,173 miles (3,497 km) of motorways and 213,750 miles (344,000 km) of paved roads.[115] The M25, encircling London, is the largest and busiest bypass in the world.^[269] In 2009 there were a total of 34 million licensed vehicles in Great Britain.^[270]

The UK has a railway network of 10,072 miles (16,209 km) in

In 2006, the UK was the world's ninth-largest consumer of energy and the 15th-largest producer.

In 2009, the UK produced 1.5 million barrels per day (bbl/d) of oil and consumed 1.7 million bbl/d.[280] Production is now in decline and the UK has been a net importer of oil since 2005.^[280] In 2010^[update] the UK had around 3.1 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves, the largest of any EU member state.^[280] In 2009, 66.5% of the UK's oil supply was imported.^[281]

In 2009, the UK was the 13th-largest producer of natural gas in the world and the largest producer in the EU.^[282] Production is now in decline and the UK has been a net importer of natural gas since 2004.^[282] In 2009, half of British gas was supplied from imports as domestic reserves are depleted.^[279]

Coal production played a key role in the UK economy in the 19th and 20th centuries. In the mid-1970s, 130 million tonnes of coal was being produced annually, not falling below 100 million tonnes until the early 1980s. During the 1980s and 1990s the industry was scaled back considerably. In 2011, the UK produced 18.3 million tonnes of coal.

In the late 1990s, nuclear power plants contributed around 25% of total annual electricity generation in the UK, but this has gradually declined as old plants have been shut down and ageing-related problems affect plant availability. In 2012, the UK had 16 reactors normally generating about 19% of its electricity. All but one of the reactors will be retired by 2023. Unlike Germany and Japan, the UK intends to build a new generation of nuclear plants from about 2018.[279]

Demographics

A

England's population in 2011 was found to be 53 million.[293] It is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, with 383 people resident per square kilometre in mid-2003,^[294] with a particular concentration in London and the south-east.^[295] The 2011 census put Scotland's population at 5.3 million,^[296] Wales at 3.06 million and Northern Ireland at 1.81 million.^[293] In percentage terms England has had the fastest growing population of any country of the UK in the period from 2001 to 2011, with an increase of 7.9%.

In 2012 the average total fertility rate (TFR) across the UK was 1.92 children per woman.^[297] While a rising birth rate is contributing to current population growth, it remains considerably below the 'baby boom' peak of 2.95 children per woman in 1964,^[298] below the replacement rate of 2.1, but higher than the 2001 record low of 1.63.^[297] In 2012, Scotland had the lowest TFR at only 1.67, followed by Wales at 1.88, England at 1.94, and Northern Ireland at 2.03.^[297] In 2011, 47.3% of births in the UK were to unmarried women.^[299] A government figure estimated that there are 3.6 million homosexual people in Britain comprising 6% of the population.^[300]

Ethnic groups

Historically, indigenous British people were thought to be

The UK has a history of small-scale non-white immigration, with Liverpool having the oldest Black population in the country dating back to at least the 1730s during the period of the African slave trade,^[309] and the oldest Chinese community in Europe, dating to the arrival of Chinese seamen in the 19th century.^[310] In 1950 there were probably fewer than 20,000 non-white residents in Britain, almost all born overseas.^[311]

Since 1948 substantial immigration from Africa, the Caribbean and South Asia has been a legacy of ties forged by the British Empire.^[312] Migration from new EU member states in Central and Eastern Europe since 2004 has resulted in growth in these population groups, although some of this migration has been temporary.^[313] Since the 1990s, there has been substantial diversification of the immigrant population, with migrants to the UK coming from a much wider range of countries than previous waves, which tended to involve larger numbers of migrants coming from a relatively small number of countries.^{[314][315][316]}

Academics have argued that the

Because of differences in the wording of the census forms used in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, data on the Other White group is not available for the UK as a whole, but in England and Wales this was the fastest growing group between the 2001 and 2011 censuses, increasing by 1.1 million (1.8 percentage points).^[321] Amongst groups for which comparable data is available for all parts of the UK level, there was considerable growth in the size of the Other Asian category, which increased from 0.4 to 1.4% of the population between 2001 and 2011.^[319][320] There was also considerable growth in the Mixed category. In 2001, people in this category accounted for 1.2% of the UK population;^[320] by 2011, the proportion was 2%.^[319]

Ethnic diversity varies significantly across the UK. 30.4% of London's population and 37.4% of Leicester's was estimated to be non-white in 2005^[update],^[322][323] whereas less than 5% of the populations of North East England, Wales and the South West were from ethnic minorities, according to the 2001 census.^[324] In 2011^[update], 26.5% of primary and 22.2% of secondary pupils at state schools in England were members of an ethnic minority.^[325]

Languages

The UK's

Four Celtic languages are spoken in the UK: Welsh; Irish; Scottish Gaelic; and Cornish. All are recognised as regional or minority languages, subject to specific measures of protection and promotion under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages^[2][335] and the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.^[336] In the 2001 Census over a fifth (21%) of the population of Wales said they could speak Welsh,^[337] an increase from the 1991 Census (18%).^[338] In addition it is estimated that about 200,000 Welsh speakers live in England.^[339] In the same census in Northern Ireland 167,487 people (10.4%) stated that they had "some knowledge of Irish" (see Irish language in Northern Ireland), almost exclusively in the nationalist (mainly Catholic) population. Over 92,000 people in Scotland (just under 2% of the population) had some Gaelic language ability, including 72% of those living in the Outer Hebrides.^[340] The number of schoolchildren being taught through Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Irish is increasing.^[341] Among emigrant-descended populations some Scottish Gaelic is still spoken in Canada (principally Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island),^[342] and Welsh in Patagonia, Argentina.^[343]

Ulster Scots in Northern Ireland, without specific commitments to protection and promotion.^[2][344]

It is compulsory for pupils to study a second language up to the age of 14 in England,

taught in Welsh.^[346]

Religion

Main article: Religion in the United Kingdom

Forms of

post-Christian society.^[352]

In the 2001 census 71.6% of all respondents indicated that they were Christians, with the next largest faiths (by number of adherents) being Islam (2.8%), Hinduism (1.0%), Sikhism (0.6%), Judaism (0.5%), Buddhism (0.3%) and all other religions (0.3%).^[353] 15% of respondents stated that they had no religion, with a further 7% not stating a religious preference.^[354] A Tearfund survey in 2007 showed only one in ten Britons actually attend church weekly.^[355] Between the 2001 and 2011 census there was a decrease in the amount of people who identified as Christian by 12%, whilst the percentage of those reporting no religious affiliation doubled. This contrasted with growth in the other main religious group categories, with the number of Muslims increasing by the most substantial margin to a total of about 5%.^[356] The Muslim population has increased from 1.6 million in 2001 to 2.7 million in 2011,^[357] making it the second-largest religion group in the United Kingdom.^[358]

In a 2015 survey conducted by

no religion', while 42% indicated they were Christians, followed by 8% who affiliated with other religions (e.g. Islam, Hinduism, Judaism etc.).^[359]

The

Methodist with small numbers of other Protestant denominations such as Open Brethren, and Orthodox churches.^[365]

Migration

Main article:

Immigration to the United Kingdom since 1922

See also: Foreign-born population of the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom has experienced successive waves of migration. The Great Famine in Ireland, then part of the United Kingdom, resulted in perhaps a million people migrating to Great Britain.^[366] Unable to return to Poland at the end of World War II, over 120,000 Polish veterans remained in the UK permanently.^[367] After World War II, there was significant immigration from the colonies and newly independent former colonies, partly as a legacy of empire and partly driven by labour shortages. Many of these migrants came from the Caribbean and the Indian subcontinent.^[368] In 1841, 0.25% of the population of England and Wales was born in a foreign country. By 1931, this figure had risen to 2.6%, and by 1951 it was 4.4%.^[369]

In 2014 the

A8 countries.^[313] In 2010, there were 7.0 million foreign-born residents in the UK, corresponding to 11.3% of the total population. Of these, 4.76 million (7.7%) were born outside the EU and 2.24 million (3.6%) were born in another EU Member State.^[371] The proportion of foreign-born people in the UK remains slightly below that of many other European countries.^[372] However, immigration is now contributing to a rising population^[373] with arrivals and UK-born children of migrants accounting for about half of the population increase between 1991 and 2001. Analysis of Office for National Statistics (ONS) data shows that a net total of 2.3 million migrants moved to the UK in the 15 years from 1991 to 2006.^[374][375] In 2008 it was predicted that migration would add 7 million to the UK population by 2031,^[376] though these figures are disputed.^[377] The ONS reported that net migration rose from 2009 to 2010 by 21% to 239,000.^[378]

195,046 foreign nationals became British citizens in 2010,[379] compared to 54,902 in 1999.^[379][380] A record 241,192 people were granted permanent settlement rights in 2010, of whom 51% were from Asia and 27% from Africa.^[381] 25.5% of babies born in England and Wales in 2011 were born to mothers born outside the UK, according to official statistics released in 2012.^[382]

Citizens of the European Union, including those of the UK, have the right to live and work in any EU member state.

late-2000s recession in the UK reduced the economic incentive for Poles to migrate to the UK,^[387] the migration becoming temporary and circular.^[388] In 2009, for the first time since enlargement, more nationals of the eight central and eastern European states that had joined the EU in 2004 left the UK than arrived.^[389] In 2011, citizens of the new EU member states made up 13% of the immigrants entering the country.^[390]

The UK government has introduced a

points-based immigration system for immigration from outside the European Economic Area to replace former schemes, including the Scottish Government's Fresh Talent Initiative.^[391] In June 2010 the UK government introduced a temporary limit of 24,000 on immigration from outside the EU, aiming to discourage applications before a permanent cap was imposed in April 2011.^[392] The cap has caused tension within the coalition: business secretary Vince Cable has argued that it is harming British businesses.^[393]

Emigration was an important feature of British society in the 19th century. Between 1815 and 1930 around 11.4 million people emigrated from Britain and 7.3 million from Ireland. Estimates show that by the end of the 20th century some 300 million people of British and Irish descent were permanently settled around the globe.[394] Today, at least 5.5 million UK-born people live abroad,^{[395][396][397]} mainly in Australia, Spain, the United States and Canada.^[395][398]

Education

Main article: Education in the United Kingdom

See also: Education in England, Education in Northern Ireland, Education in Scotland, and Education in Wales

Education in the United Kingdom is a devolved matter, with each country having a separate education system.

Whilst

local authorities.^[399] Universally free of charge state education was introduced piecemeal between 1870 and 1944.^[400][401] Education is now mandatory from ages five to sixteen (15 if born in late July or August). In 2011, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) rated 13–14-year-old pupils in England and Wales 10th in the world for maths and 9th for science.^[402] The majority of children are educated in state-sector schools, a small proportion of which select on the grounds of academic ability. Two of the top ten performing schools in terms of GCSE results in 2006 were state-run grammar schools. Over half of students at the leading universities of Cambridge and Oxford had attended state schools.^[403] Despite a fall in actual numbers the proportion of children in England attending private schools has risen to over 7%.^[404] In 2010, more than 45% of places at the University of Oxford and 40% at the University of Cambridge were taken by students from private schools, even though they educate just 7% of the population.^[405] England has the two oldest universities in English-speaking world, Universities of Oxford and Cambridge (jointly known as "Oxbridge") with history of over eight centuries. The United Kingdom has 9 universities featured in the Times Higher Education top 100 rankings, making it second to the United States in terms of representation.^[406]

tuition fees nor graduate endowment charges, as fees were abolished in 2001 and the graduate endowment scheme was abolished in 2008.^[412]

The Welsh Government has responsibility for education in Wales. A significant number of Welsh students are taught either wholly or largely in the Welsh language; lessons in Welsh are compulsory for all until the age of 16.^[413] There are plans to increase the provision of Welsh-medium schools as part of the policy of creating a fully bilingual Wales.

Education in Northern Ireland is the responsibility of the Minister of Education and the Minister for Employment and Learning, although responsibility at a local level is administered by five education and library boards covering different geographical areas. The Council for the Curriculum, Examinations & Assessment (CCEA) is the body responsible for advising the government on what should be taught in Northern Ireland's schools, monitoring standards and awarding qualifications.^[414]

A

government commission's report in 2014 found that privately educated people comprise 7% of the general population of the UK but much larger percentages of the top professions, the most extreme case quoted being 71% of senior judges.^[415][416]

Healthcare

Main article: Healthcare in the United Kingdom

Healthcare in the United Kingdom is a devolved matter and each country has its own system of private and publicly funded health care, together with alternative, holistic and complementary treatments. Public healthcare is provided to all UK permanent residents and is mostly free at the point of need, being paid for from general taxation. The World Health Organization, in 2000, ranked the provision of healthcare in the United Kingdom as fifteenth best in Europe and eighteenth in the world.^[417][418]

Regulatory bodies are organised on a UK-wide basis such as the

Welsh Assembly Government. Each National Health Service has different policies and priorities, resulting in contrasts.^[419][420]

Since 1979 expenditure on healthcare has been increased significantly to bring it closer to the European Union average.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average and about one percentage point below the average of the European Union.^[422]

Culture

Main article: Culture of the United Kingdom

The culture of the United Kingdom has been influenced by many factors including: the nation's island status; its history as a western liberal democracy and a major power; as well as being a political union of four countries with each preserving elements of distinctive traditions, customs and symbolism. As a result of the British Empire, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies including Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States. The substantial cultural influence of the United Kingdom has led it to be described as a "cultural superpower".^[101][102]

Literature

Main article: British literature

'British literature' refers to literature associated with the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. Most British literature is in the English language. In 2005, some 206,000 books were published in the United Kingdom and in 2006 it was the largest publisher of books in the world.^[423]

The English playwright and poet William Shakespeare is widely regarded as the greatest dramatist of all time,^{[424][425][426]} and his contemporaries Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson have also been held in continuous high esteem. More recently the playwrights Alan Ayckbourn, Harold Pinter, Michael Frayn, Tom Stoppard and David Edgar have combined elements of surrealism, realism and radicalism.

Notable pre-modern and early-modern English writers include

T.S. Eliot, Philip Larkin and Ted Hughes; the fantasy writers J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis and J. K. Rowling; the graphic novelists Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman

.

Scotland's contributions include the detective writer Arthur Conan Doyle (the creator of Sherlock Holmes), romantic literature by Sir Walter Scott, the children's writer J. M. Barrie, the epic adventures of Robert Louis Stevenson and the celebrated poet Robert Burns. More recently the modernist and nationalist Hugh MacDiarmid and Neil M. Gunn contributed to the Scottish Renaissance. A more grim outlook is found in Ian Rankin's stories and the psychological horror-comedy of Iain Banks. Scotland's capital, Edinburgh, was UNESCO's first worldwide City of Literature.^[428]

Britain's oldest known poem,

Anglo-Welsh poets are both Thomases. Dylan Thomas became famous on both sides of the Atlantic in the mid-20th century. He is remembered for his poetry – his "Do not go gentle into that good night; Rage, rage against the dying of the light." is one of the most quoted couplets of English language verse – and for his 'play for voices', Under Milk Wood. The influential Church in Wales 'poet-priest' and Welsh nationalist R. S. Thomas was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1996. Leading Welsh novelists of the twentieth century include Richard Llewellyn and Kate Roberts.^[432][433]

Authors of other nationalities, particularly from

T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound and more recently British authors born abroad such as Kazuo Ishiguro and Sir Salman Rushdie.^[434][435]

Music

Main article: Music of the United Kingdom

See also:

British rock

Various styles of music are popular in the UK from the indigenous

West End since the late 20th century and have also been a commercial success worldwide.^[441]

The Beatles have international sales of over one billion units and are the biggest-selling and most influential band in the history of popular music.^{[436][437][438][442]} Other prominent British contributors to have influenced popular music over the last 50 years include; The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Queen, the Bee Gees, and Elton John, all of whom have world wide record sales of 200 million or more.^{[443][444][445][446][447][448]} The Brit Awards are the BPI's annual music awards, and some of the British recipients of the Outstanding Contribution to Music award include; The Who, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart and The Police.^[449] More recent UK music acts that have had international success include Coldplay, Radiohead, Oasis, Spice Girls, Robbie Williams, Amy Winehouse and Adele.^[450]

A number of UK cities are known for their music. Acts from Liverpool have had more UK chart number one hit singles per capita (54) than any other city worldwide.^[451] Glasgow's contribution to music was recognised in 2008 when it was named a UNESCO City of Music, one of only three cities in the world to have this honour.^[452]

Visual art

Main article: Art of the United Kingdom

The history of British visual art forms part of

Sam Taylor-Wood and the Chapman Brothers

are among the better-known members of this loosely affiliated movement.

The

National Portrait Gallery, Tate Britain and Tate Modern (the most-visited modern art gallery in the world, with around 4.7 million visitors per year).^[453]

Cinema

Main article: Cinema of the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom has had a considerable influence on the history of the cinema. The British directors

James Bond).^[473] Ealing Studios has a claim to being the oldest continuously working film studio in the world.^[474]

Despite a history of important and successful productions, the industry has often been characterised by a debate about its identity and the level of American and European influence. British producers are active in

Pirates of the Caribbean

In 2009, British films grossed around $2 billion worldwide and achieved a market share of around 7% globally and 17% in the United Kingdom.[475] UK box-office takings totalled £944 million in 2009, with around 173 million admissions.^[475] The British Film Institute has produced a poll ranking of what it considers to be the 100 greatest British films of all time, the BFI Top 100 British films.^[476] The annual British Academy Film Awards are hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.^[477]

Media

The

In 2009, it was estimated that individuals viewed a mean of 3.75 hours of television per day and 2.81 hours of radio. In that year the main BBC public service broadcasting channels accounted for an estimated 28.4% of all television viewing; the three main independent channels accounted for 29.5% and the increasingly important other satellite and digital channels for the remaining 42.1%.^[488] Sales of newspapers have fallen since the 1970s and in 2009 42% of people reported reading a daily national newspaper.^[489] In 2010 82.5% of the UK population were Internet users, the highest proportion amongst the 20 countries with the largest total number of users in that year.^[490]

Philosophy

The United Kingdom is famous for the tradition of 'British Empiricism', a branch of the philosophy of knowledge that states that only knowledge verified by experience is valid, and 'Scottish Philosophy', sometimes referred to as the '

Major sports, including

In most international competitions, separate teams represent England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland usually field a single team representing all of Ireland, with notable exceptions being association football and the Commonwealth Games. In sporting contexts, the English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish / Northern Irish teams are often referred to collectively as the Home Nations. There are some sports in which a single team represents the whole of United Kingdom, including the Olympics, where the UK is represented by the Great Britain team. The 1908, 1948 and 2012 Summer Olympics were held in London, making it the first city to host the games three times. Britain has participated in every modern Olympic Games to date and is third in the medal count.

A 2003 poll found that football is the most popular

In 2003,

Golf is the sixth-most popular sport, by participation, in the UK. Although The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews in Scotland is the sport's home course,^[517] the world's oldest golf course is actually Musselburgh Links' Old Golf Course.^[518] In 1764, the standard 18 hole golf course was created at St Andrews when members modified the course from 22 to 18 holes.^[516] The oldest golf tournament in the world, and the first major championship in golf, The Open Championship, is played annually on the weekend of the third Friday in July.^[519]

Rugby league originated in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire in 1895 and is generally played in Northern England.^[520] A single 'Great Britain Lions' team had competed in the Rugby League World Cup and Test match games, but this changed in 2008 when England, Scotland and Ireland competed as separate nations.^[521] Great Britain is still retained as the full national team. Super League is the highest level of professional rugby league in the UK and Europe. It consists of 11 teams from Northern England, 1 from London, 1 from Wales and 1 from France.^[522]

The

The

• Outline of the United Kingdom
• Template:Wikipedia books link
• Walking in the United Kingdom

Notes