Capital: London
Population: 50.4 million
Monetary unit: 1 Pound Sterling (GBP) = 100 Pence
Major language: English
Major religion: Christianity
Life expectancy: 76 years (men), 81 years (women)
International dialing code: +44
Internet domain: .uk ; .gb

State name: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Government: Parliamentary democracy, Constitutional monarchy.
Topography: The British Isles between the Atlantic and the North Sea (Main Isle England with Wales and Scotland, Northern Ireland and offshore Islands).
Population: English 83,6%, Scots 8.6%, Welsh 4.9%, Northern Irish 2.9% (2001).
Regligion: 71.6% Christianity 4,8 Million Roman Catholics (2003). The Anglican Church (Church of England) ist the state church, Church in Wales, Scottish Episcopal Church, Church of Ireland. The presbyterian Church of Scotland is the state church of Scotland. Other Religions 294.000 Methodists , 181.000 Mormons, 1.6 Million Muslims, 559.000 Hindus, 336.000 Sikhs, 267.000 Jews, 152.000 Buddhists.
Demonym: Briton(s) British.
National Holidays: 2. Saturday in June (Birthday celebration of the Queen), 17 March (St. Patrick´s Day), 12 July (Battle of the Boyne).
International Organisations: UNO and custom UN Organisations, G-8, Commonwealth, NATO, EU, WEU EAPC, EBRD, OSCE, OECD, Council of Europe, WTO.

Property: The United Kingdom consists of England, Wales and Scotland (Shetland and Orkney Isles, Hebrides, Isle of Wight) and Northern Ireland which is separated by the North Sea and the English Channel from the European mainland. Drawn through mountain valleys are characteristic symbols for Scotland, Wales and Cornwall in the south of England. Northern Ireland is mostly highland. Highest peak of the Country is Ben Nevis (1.343m) in Scotland.
Climate: Oceanic climate with mild Winter and cool Summer, in the Southeast continental ascendancies. Annual precipation 550-4.000 (London 750) mm. Average temperature in London: January 3°C, July/August 16 °C, average annual temperature 10°C.
Area and Population: The total population counts 60.363.602 people on 244.140 km² = 247,2 Pers./km². England 50.674.312 , Scotland 5.001.026, Wales 2.950.747, Northern Ireland 1.737.517 inhabitants. The capital London has 7.554.236 Million inhabitants. Other larger towns are Birmingham 989.141, Glasgow 604.355, Manchester-Liverpool 4.209.132, Leeds 460.459, Sheffield 449.971, Edinburgh 441.419, Bristol 435.028, Leicester 343.019, Coventry 310.200, Cardiff 307.364.
Administration: Great Britain is ruled over and governed centralistly. Public affairs of England are responsibilities of the central government in London (England does not have a parliament of its own in opposite to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). England consits of nine Regions, thereunder Greater London, divided into 32 Boroughs and the City of London. The Regions of England without Greater London are organized in 35 Counties (subdivided into 283 Non-Metropolitan Disricts), six Metropolitan Counties (subdivided into 36 Metropolitan Districts) and 40 Unitary Authorities. Scotland consists of 32 Council Areas, Wales of 22 Unitary Authorities and Northern Ireland of 26 Districts.

United Kingdom State and Government

Head of State: Queen ELIZABETH II, succession to the throne on the 6 February 1952, crowned 2. June 1953. Heir: Charles, Price of Wales.
Parliament: Two-chamber parliament House of Lords (735 Members) and House of Commons (646 Members) for a period of five years. Speaker of the House of Commons: Michael J. Martin (Labour Party). Speaker of the House of Lords: Baroness Helen Hayman of Darmouth Park (Labour Party), elected as the first speaker for the House of Lords on the 4 July 2006.

Industry: Great Britain is a country of modern industry, in 2005 the industrial sector held 17% of GDP shares, a real growth of 1,5% in comparison with the previous year was recorded. The divisions engineering and chemical assembly listed high growth rates up to 4,0% in 2006. The most important branch in the United Kingdom was the tele-communication division. Largest volume of sales made food processing (15%), printing industry (13,6), chemicals (11%), transport (10,9%), electronics (10,7%), metals (10,2%).

Production of selected commodities(2003): Automobiles (1,7 Million); Beer (58 Million hl); Cigarettes (49,1 Billion); Wheat flour (5,6 Million t); Beet sugar (1,5 Million t); Vegetable oil (769.000 t); Cement (11,2 Million t). Benzine (23,2 Million t) ; Diesel and gasoil (28,4 Million t) ; Aluminium (549.200 t); Lead (1,5 Million t); Crude steel (13,3 Million t).

Energy Industry: The United Kingdom´s electricity generation was 363 (comsumption: 345) billion kWh (approx. 75% from fossil fuels), electricity imports were 9,8 billion kWh in comparison with 2,3 billion kWh electricity exports. Gas has the highest shares in British energy consumption (40,9%) followed by Oil (32,6 %) coal (16,7 %) and primary electricity (8,3%). 23 nuclear plants are in service, which should be switched off for reasons of age until 2025. The government plans to start the building of 6 to 10 new nuclear power plants in 2012. Three Offshore Windfarms should supply about 15% of British households with electricity after completion.

Oil: Exports 1,5 Million barrel per day (bpd), Imports 1,1 Million bpd, Consumption 1,8 Million bpd.
Gas: Exports 9,8 billion m³, Imports 12,3 billion m³, Consumption 98,5 m³.

(Pipelines;2006: Gas 21.634 km, Oil 5.094 km, Refinery products 4.444 km, Other 732 km).

Raw materials: The United Kingdom has large coal, oil and gas reserves. Coal mining was a carrying pillar of the British economy over centuries and is now being replaced by Oil and Gas. Coal processing fell from 128 million to 31,2 million tons from 1980 until 2000 and is still decreasing. In the sixties profitable Gas and Oil fields was found, reserves of 2,9 billion tons Oil and 2.041 billion m³ of Gas are being estimated. Extractions of 85 billion tons Oil and 86 billion m³ of Gas were made in 2005. 

Production of selected resources (2004, each in million tons): Sand and grit 90,5 ; Lime stone and dolomite 90 ; Volcanic rock 52 ; Sandstone 18,5 ; Clay and shale 15,6 ; Salt 6,2 ; Gypsum 1,7.

Tourism: Tourism is a part of the most important economic sectors of Great Britain, 30 million people visited the Country in 2005. 14,2 Billion pounds was spent. The tourism branch employed 1999 1,85 million persons, which makes 7% of total labour force (total revenue: 63,9 Billion Pounds).

(Visitors;Million: USA 3,4 ; France and Germany 3,3 ; Ireland 2,8 ; Spain 1,8)

Road and Automotive: The British traffic system is dominated by road traffic. In terms of passenger transportation, automobiles have the highest shares. Freight traffic is increasing above-average. In 2005 the British road network (Northern Ireland excluded) had a total lenght of 388.008 km (3.520 km highways) (2004; 25,75 Million automobiles ; 100.000 Million omnibusses ; 2,90 Million freight vehicles ; 434.000 heavy freight vehicles ; 1,06 Million motorbikes).

Railway: The first railroad of the World was opened 1825 in Great Britain. High-speed trains operate on intercity-roads, the total railway system counts 17.156 km (5.484 electrified). Redevelopment and privatization of the London underground railway is planned by the governmental „London Underground”. (2003; 1,088 Billion passenger and 102 Million tons of freight were transported).

Shipping: Great Britain had a fleet of 1.569 (11,123 Million GRT) merchant ships in 2004. Almost the complete foreign trade is dealt over sea, mostly with container ships. Ferry connections dominate in the passenger transport with the european mainland, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland as well as smaller islands. The United Kingdom has over 650 ports (approx. 20% trading ports), the most important ones are Aberdeen, Belfast, Bristol, Cardiff, Dover, Falmouth, Felixstowe, the Forth harbours, Glasgow, Grimsby and Immingham, Hound Point, Hull, Liverpool, London (Tilbury), Manchester, the Medway harbours, Milford Haven, Peterhead, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Scapa Flow, Southampton, Sullom Voe, the Tees and Hartlepool aswell the Tyne harbours. The international shipping in 2004 made 342,4 Million tons of exports and 230,6 Million tons of imports. Thames, Mersey, the Aire and Calder Navigation as well as the Manchester Ship Canal are important to the international ship transport.

Aviation: The air traffic in Great Britain is a significant business in Great Britain. The country has 471 airports (334 with fixed roadways) and 11 heliports. The largest airport is London-Heathrow (68 Million passengers) followed by London-Gatwick (33 Million passengers). A total amount of 228 passengers were registered, the British Ministry of Transport expects 500 million passengers to 2030. The largest British airline company is "British Airways", organizing scheduled flights to over 250 destinations in 99 countries (2001: 340 aircrafts ; 51,5 Million passengers).

(2004: 82,8 Million passengers and 842.993 tons of freight transported).

Press: The United Kingdom is regarded as the classical country of the freedom of the press. The Press Complaints Commission took of the Press Council in 1991, its main task consists in working on complaints about contents. 2004 there were over 2.600 regional and local dailies in Great Britain (weekly total circulation: 136 Million copies). British newspapers with a long tradition are the “Observer”, the oldest supraregional Sunday paper of the world as well as the “Times”, the oldest supraregional daily in Great Britain.

The most important supraregional dailies with place of publication in London : Daily Express (founded 1900; 792.200 copies) , Daily Mail (founded 1896; 2.225.440 copies) ,  Daily Mirror (founded 1903 as "The Mirror"; 1.523.710 copies) , Daily Star (founded 1978; 671.430 copies) , Daily Telegraph (founded 1855; 860.100 copies) , Financial Times (founded 1880; 132.650 copies), The Guardian (founded 1821; 336.230 copies) , The Independent (founded 1986; 216.800 copies) , The Sun (founded 1921 as "Daily Herald"; 2.966.430 copies) , The Times (founded 1785; 640.200 copies).
Edition strongest regional dailies: Metro (founded 1999, London) issued on Mondays till Fridays with a total circulation of 1.036.000 copies, Daily Record (founded 1895; Glasgow; 438.550 copies), Evening Standard (founded 1827; London; 324.120 copies)

Edition strongest weeklies (London): News of the World (founded 1843; 3.248.680), The Mail on Sunday (founded 1982, 2.170.150 copies), Sunday Mirror (founded 1915; 1.367.490), The Sunday Times (founded 1822 1.190.870 copies) , Sunday Express (founded 1918; 840.510 copies), The People (founded 1881; 783.680 copies).

Television and Radio: The use of new media and further development of satellite cable and digital broadcasting is being regulated by the "Broadcasting Acts". BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) sends over two terrestrial television channels (BBC1, BBC2) with a different programme profile and reaches 99% of the population, there are six digital additional channels. The supervisory authority "Ofcom" is licensing the commercial TV. 1956 the first commercial programme started broadcasting (Independent Television/ITV). Second advertising financed channel is Channel 4 (reaches 97% of the population), there is also Welsh programme named S4C and a other terrestrial Channel (“five”, till 2002 “Channel 5”). In the area of the satellite and cable TV BBC Worldwide Television, British Sky Broadcasting, Eurosport UK, MTV Networks Europe and UK TV are the important ones.

BBC Radio operates five nationwide programmes, five digital transmitters, 38 local transmitters in England and on the Channel Islands as well as Radio Scotland, Radio Wales, Radio Cymru (Welsh) Radio Ulster and Radio Foyle in Northern Ireland. BBC World Service is broadcasting in 32 languages. Nationwide radio offers Classic FM, Virgin Radio and Talksport UK. Independent Radio Networks (IRN) builds a local radio network. The Local Radio Company holds 26 Licences for commercial radio stations. Great Britain plans to change to digital radio broadcast until 2012.

Additional Information: 3,26 Million Cable TV subscriptions, 89,4% of the British households receive digital television. Other TV stations in the United Kingdom are Scottish Television and Grampian Television in Scotland; Ulster Television in Northern Ireland.

(78 TV and 653 Radio Stations; Density: 665 TVs per 1.000 inhabitants, 1.443 Radios per 1.000 inhabitants.)

News Agency: Reuters (founded 1851), Press Association (founded 1868), British layers of the American agencies Associated Press (AP; founded 1931) and the United Press International (UPI).

Telecommunications: The "Office of Communication" has the supervision about telecommunications radio and television. British Telecom is a world leading supplier on the British telecommunications market. Other successful companies on the market are Vodafone, O2 and Orange.
(32,9 Million landline; 61,1 Million mobile phone and 37,6 Million internet users).

Great Britain does not have a uniformly regulated legal system. The judiciary systems of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are similar but however different in terms of content and organization. In the English legal system there are three sources of law, the common law, the equity law and the statue law. No higher authority stands over the sovereign parliament in Great Britain. The Country has over 28.000 lay judges in the Magistrate Courts, laities in jury courts decide about the accused. According to the legal constitution in England and Wales, County Courts are the first level of jurisdiction in civil criminal cases, serious cases are dealt by the Crown Court. Scotlands highest judicial authority is the “High Court of Justiciary”, the “District Courts”(smaller delicts) “Sheriff Principal” and “Court of Session” are negotiating civil court matters, an appeal on the House of Lords is possible.

The High Court of Justice (civil cases) has three departments, Queen`s Bench Division, Chancery Division and the Family Division. The House of Lords is the supreme appellate court.

Constitution: The United Kingdom is a Parliamentary democracy (Constitutional monarchy). The constitution developed over centuries consisting of „conventions“, a system of political agreements. Guide for the conventions was the common law, most important conventions are : The Government may not act against the rule of law and the parliament. Unwritten Elements are being supplemented by written law (i.a. Acts of Parliament). Every law decided by majority in the parliament can change the constitution.

The House of Lords as the second parliament chamber has a subordinated role. Legislating organ is the House of Commons with 646 deputies (term of office of five years). The House of Commons can be dissolved by the prime minister. The executive is being represented by the crown, cabinet, ministries, the “Privy Council”, the “Civil Service”, local governments and the police and army. The Crown is the head of state symbolizing the Queen in Parliament, her political influence is limited to information, consulting and representing. The prime minister is appointed by the Queen, the right to form a government has the party leader who won the elections.