United Kingdom

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Flag
Anthem: "God Save the King"[a]
Coats of arms: Used in relation to Scotland (right) and elsewhere (left)
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Capital and largest city	London 51°30′N 0°7′W / 51.500°N 0.117°W / 51.500; -0.117
National language	English
Regional and minority languages[b]	Scots Ulster Scots Welsh Cornish Scottish Gaelic Irish British Sign Language
Ethnic groups (2021)[c][4][5][6]	83.0% White 8.6% Asian 3.7% Black 2.7% Mixed 2.0% other
Religion (2021)[c][7][8][6]	46.5% Christianity 37.8% no religion 6.0% Islam 1.6% Hinduism 0.8% Sikhism 0.4% Buddhism 0.4% Judaism 0.6% other 5.9% not stated
Demonym(s)	British Briton
Government	Unitary[d] parliamentary constitutional monarchy
• Monarch	Charles III
• Prime Minister	Keir Starmer
Legislature	Parliament
• Upper house	House of Lords
• Lower house	House of Commons
Formation
• Laws in Wales Acts	1535 and 1542
• Union of the Crowns	24 March 1603
• Treaty of Union	22 July 1706
• Acts of Union of England and Scotland	1 May 1707
• Acts of Union of Great Britain and Ireland	1 January 1801
• Irish Free State Constitution Act	6 December 1922
Area
• Total[f]	244,376 km2 (94,354 sq mi)[12] (78th)
• Land[e]	242,495 km2 (93,628 sq mi)
Population
• 2023 estimate	68,265,209[13] (21st)
• 2021 census	66,940,559[c][14][15][16]
• Density	281/km2 (727.8/sq mi)[13] (51st)
GDP (PPP)	2024 estimate
• Total	$4.282 trillion[17] (10th)
• Per capita	$62,574[17] (28th)
GDP (nominal)	2024 estimate
• Total	$3.588 trillion[17] (6th)
• Per capita	$52,423[17] (20th)
Gini (2021)	35.4[18] medium inequality
HDI (2022)	0.940[19] very high (15th)
Currency	Pound sterling[g] (£) (GBP)
Time zone	UTC+0 (GMT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (BST[h])
Date format	dd/mm/yyyy (AD)[i]
Drives on	Left[j]
Calling code	+44[k]
ISO 3166 code	GB
Internet TLD	.uk[l]

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain,^[m] is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.^[n] The UK includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and most of the smaller islands within the British Isles, making up a total area of 94,354 square miles (244,376 km²).^[f] Northern Ireland shares a land border with the Republic of Ireland; otherwise, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea, and the Irish Sea. The United Kingdom had an estimated population of over 68.2 million people in 2023. The capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom is London, whose wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 14.9 million. The cities of Edinburgh, Cardiff, and Belfast are the national capitals of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, respectively.

The lands of the UK have been inhabited continuously since the Neolithic. In AD 43, the Roman conquest of Britain began; the Roman departure was followed by Anglo-Saxon settlement. In 1066, the Normans conquered England. With the end of the Wars of the Roses, the English state stabilised and began to grow in power, resulting by the 16th century in the annexation of Wales, the domination of Scotland, and the establishment of the British Empire. Over the course of the 17th century, the role of the British monarchy was reduced, particularly as a result of the English Civil War. In 1707, the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland united under the Treaty of Union to create the Kingdom of Great Britain. The Acts of Union 1800 incorporated the Kingdom of Ireland to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801. Most of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922 as the Irish Free State, and the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927 created the present United Kingdom.

The UK became the first industrialised country and was the world's foremost power for the majority of the 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly during the "Pax Britannica" between 1815 and 1914. The British Empire was the leading economic power for most of the 19th century, a position supported by its agricultural prosperity, its role as a dominant trading nation, a massive industrial capacity, significant technological achievements, and the rise of 19th-century London as the world's principal financial centre. At its height in the 1920s, the British Empire encompassed almost a quarter of the world's landmass and population, and was the largest empire in history. However, its involvement in the First World War and the Second World War damaged Britain's economic power and a global wave of decolonisation led to the independence of most British colonies.

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy.^[o] The UK has three distinct jurisdictions: England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Since 1999, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own governments and parliaments which control various devolved matters. A developed country, the UK has the world's sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and is the fourth-largest exporter. It is a nuclear state with one of the world's highest military budgets. The UK has been a permanent member of the UN Security Council since its first session in 1946. It is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, Council of Europe, G7, OECD, NATO, Five Eyes, AUKUS and CPTPP. British influence can be observed in the legal and political systems of many of its former colonies, and British culture remains globally influential, particularly in language, literature, music and sport. English is the world's most widely spoken language and the third-most spoken native language.

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