Etymology and terminology
In , ''Britannia'' referred to theHistory
Prior to the Treaty of Union
Settlement byKingdom of Great Britain
On 1 May 1707, the Kingdom of Great Britain was formed, the result of Acts of Union being passed by the parliaments of England and Scotland to ratify the 1706Union with Ireland
The term "United Kingdom" became official in 1801 when the parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland each passed an Act of Union, uniting the two kingdoms and creating theWorld Wars and Partition of Ireland
Britain fought alongside France, Russia and (after 1917) the United States, against Germany and its allies in thePostwar 20th century
During the Second World War, the UK was one of the Big Three powers (along with the U.S. and the Soviet Union) who met to plan the post-war world; it was an original signatory to the21st century
The UK broadly supported the United States' approach to theGeography
The total area of the United Kingdom is approximately . The country occupies the major part of theClimate
Most of the United Kingdom has a temperate climate, with generally cool temperatures and plentiful rainfall all year round. The temperature varies with the seasons seldom dropping below or rising above . Some parts, away from the coast, of upland England, Wales, Northern Ireland and most of Scotland, experience aTopography
Government and politics
The United Kingdom is aAdministrative divisions
The geographical division of the United Kingdom intoDevolved governments
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each have their own Executive (government), government or executive, led by a first minister (or, in the case of Northern Ireland, a diarchal first minister and deputy first minister), and a devolved unicameral legislature. England, the largest country of the United Kingdom, has no devolved executive or legislature and is administered and legislated for directly by the UK's government and parliament on all issues. This situation has given rise to the so-called West Lothian question, which concerns the fact that members of parliament from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can vote, sometimes decisively, on matters that affect only England. The 2013 Commission on the consequences of devolution for the House of Commons, McKay Commission on this recommended that laws affecting only England should need support from a majority of English members of parliament. The Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament, Parliament have wide-ranging powers over any matter that has not been specifically Reserved and excepted matters, reserved to the UK Parliament, including education in Scotland, education, NHS Scotland, healthcare, Scots law and Local government in Scotland, local government. Their power over economic issues is significantly constrained by an act of the UK parliament passed in 2020. The Welsh Government and the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; formerly the National Assembly for Wales) have more limited powers than those devolved to Scotland. The Senedd is able to legislate on any matter not specifically reserved to the UK Parliament through Acts of Senedd Cymru. The Northern Ireland Executive and Northern Ireland Assembly, Assembly have powers similar to those devolved to Scotland. The Executive is led by a diarchy representing Designated Unionist, unionist and Designated Nationalist, nationalist members of the Assembly. Devolution to Northern Ireland is contingent on participation by the Northern Ireland administration in the North-South Ministerial Council, where the Northern Ireland Executive cooperates and develops joint and shared policies with the Government of Ireland. The British and Irish governments co-operate on non-devolved matters affecting Northern Ireland through the British–Irish Intergovernmental Conference, which assumes the responsibilities of the Northern Ireland administration in the event of its non-operation. The UK does not have a codified constitution and constitutional matters are not among the powers devolved to Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. Under the doctrine of Parliamentary sovereignty in the United Kingdom, parliamentary sovereignty, the UK Parliament could, in theory, therefore, abolish the Scottish Parliament, Senedd or Northern Ireland Assembly. Indeed, in 1972, the UK Parliament Northern Ireland (Temporary Provisions) Act 1972, unilaterally prorogued the Parliament of Northern Ireland, setting a precedent relevant to contemporary devolved institutions. In practice, it would be politically difficult for the UK Parliament to abolish devolution to the Scottish Parliament and the Senedd, given the political entrenchment created by referendum decisions. The political constraints placed upon the UK Parliament's power to interfere with devolution in Northern Ireland are even greater than in relation to Scotland and Wales, given that devolution in Northern Ireland rests upon an international agreement with the Government of Ireland. The UK Parliament restricts the three devolved parliaments' legislative competence in economic areas through an Act passed in 2020.Dependencies
The United Kingdom has responsibility for 17 territories that do not form part of the United Kingdom itself: 14 British Overseas Territories and three Crown Dependencies. The 14 British Overseas Territories are remnants of the British Empire: Anguilla; Bermuda; the British Antarctic Territory; the British Indian Ocean Territory; the British Virgin Islands; the Cayman Islands; the Falkland Islands; Gibraltar; Montserrat; Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha; the Turks and Caicos Islands; the Pitcairn Islands; South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; and Akrotiri and Dhekelia on the island of Cyprus. British claims in Antarctica have limited international recognition. Collectively Britain's overseas territories encompass an approximate land area of , with a total population of approximately 250,000. The overseas territories also give the UK the world's fifth largest Exclusive economic zone of the United Kingdom, exclusive economic zone at . A 1999 UK government white paper stated that: "[The] Overseas Territories are British for as long as they wish to remain British. Britain has willingly granted independence where it has been requested; and we will continue to do so where this is an option." Self-determination is also enshrined in the constitutions of several overseas territories and three have specifically voted to remain under British sovereignty (Bermuda in 1995 Bermudan independence referendum, 1995, Gibraltar in 2002 Gibraltar sovereignty referendum, 2002 and the Falkland Islands in 2013 Falkland Islands sovereignty referendum, 2013). The Crown dependencies are possessions of the Crown, as opposed to overseas territories of the UK. They comprise three independently administered jurisdictions: the Channel Islands ofLaw and criminal justice
The United Kingdom does not have a single legal system as Article 19 of the Treaty of Union, 1706 Treaty of Union provided for the continuation of Scotland's separate legal system. Today the UK has three distinct Legal systems of the world, systems of law: English law, Courts of Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland law and Scots law. A new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom came into being in October 2009 to replace the judicial functions of the House of Lords, Appellate Committee of the House of Lords. The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, including the same members as the Supreme Court, is the highest court of appeal for several independent Commonwealth countries, theForeign relations
The UK is a Big Five (United Nations), permanent member of theMilitary
''British Armed Forces, His Majesty's Armed Forces'' consist of three professional service branches: the Royal Navy and Royal Marines (forming the Naval Service (United Kingdom), Naval Service), the British Army and theEconomy
Overview
The UK has a partially regulated market economy. 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 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. The pound sterling is the world's fourth-largest reserve currency (after the US dollar, euro, and Japanese Yen). Since 1997 the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (United Kingdom), Monetary Policy Committee, headed by the Governor of the Bank of England, has been responsible for setting official bank rate, interest rates at the level necessary to achieve the overall inflation target for the economy that is set by the Chancellor each year. The UK Tertiary sector of the economy, service sector makes up around 79 per cent of Gross domestic product, GDP.Science and technology
England and Scotland were leading centres of the Scientific Revolution from the 17th century. The United Kingdom led the Industrial Revolution from the 18th century, and has continued to produce scientists and engineers credited with important advances. Major theorists from the 17th and 18th centuries include Isaac Newton, whose Newton's laws of motion, laws of motion and illumination of gravitation, gravity have been seen as a keystone of modern science; from the 19th century Charles Darwin, whose theory of evolution by natural selection was fundamental to the development of modern biology, and James Clerk Maxwell, who formulated classical electromagnetic theory; and more recently Stephen Hawking, who advanced major theories in the fields of cosmology, quantum gravity and the investigation of black holes. Major scientific discoveries from the 18th century include hydrogen by Henry Cavendish; from the 20th century penicillin by Alexander Fleming, and the structure of DNA, by Francis Crick and others. Famous British engineers and inventors of the Industrial Revolution include James Watt, George Stephenson, Richard Arkwright, Robert Stephenson and Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Other major engineering projects and applications by people from the UK include the steam locomotive, developed by Richard Trevithick and Andrew Vivian; from the 19th century the electric motor by Michael Faraday, the Analytical engine, first computer designed by Charles Babbage, the first commercial electrical telegraph by William Fothergill Cooke and Charles Wheatstone, the incandescent light bulb by Joseph Swan, and the first practical telephone, patented by Alexander Graham Bell; and in the 20th century the world's first working television system by John Logie Baird and others, the jet engine by Frank Whittle, the basis of the modern computer by Alan Turing, and the World Wide Web by Tim Berners-Lee. Scientific research and development remains important in British universities, with many establishing science parks to facilitate production and co-operation with industry. Between 2004 and 2008 the UK produced 7 per cent of the world's scientific research papers and had an 8 per cent share of scientific citations, the third and second-highest in the world (after the United States and China, respectively). Scientific journals produced in the UK include ''Nature (journal), Nature'', the ''BMJ, British Medical Journal'' and ''The Lancet''. The United Kingdom was ranked fourth in the Global Innovation Index 2020, 2021 and 2022.Transport
A radial road network totals of main roads, of motorways and of paved roads. The M25 motorway, M25, encircling London, is the largest and busiest bypass in the world. In 2009 there were a total of 34 million licensed vehicles in Great Britain. The rail network in the UK is the oldest such network in the world. The system consists of five high-speed main lines (the West Coast Main Line, West Coast, East Coast Main Line, East Coast, Midland Main Line, Midland, Great Western Main Line, Great Western and Great Eastern Main Line, Great Eastern), which radiate from London to the rest of the country, augmented by regional rail lines and dense commuter networks within the major cities. High Speed 1 is operationally separate from the rest of the network. The world's first passenger railway running on steam was the Stockton and Darlington Railway, opened in 1825. Just under five years later the world's first intercity railway was the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, designed by George Stephenson. The network grew rapidly as a patchwork of hundreds of separate companies during the Victorian era. The UK has a railway network of in Rail transport in Great Britain, Great Britain and in Northern Ireland Railways, Northern Ireland. Railways in Northern Ireland are operated by NI Railways, a subsidiary of state-owned Translink (Northern Ireland), Translink. In Great Britain, the British Rail network was privatisation of British Rail, privatised between 1994 and 1997, which was followed by a rapid rise in passenger numbers. The UK was ranked eighth among national European rail systems in the 2017 European Railway Performance Index assessing intensity of use, quality of service and safety. High Speed 2, HS2 is a new high speed railway under construction linking up London, the Midlands, the North and Scotland serving over 25 stations, including eight of Britain's 10 largest cities and connecting around 30 million. Crossrail, opened in 2022, was Europe's largest construction project with a £15 billion projected cost. Great British Railways is a planned State ownership, state-owned public body that will oversee rail transport in Great Britain from 2023. In 2014, there were 5.2 billion bus journeys in the UK, 2.4 billion of which were in London. The red Double-decker bus, double-decker bus has entered popular culture as an internationally recognised icon of England. The London bus network is extensive, with over 6,800 scheduled services every weekday carrying about six million passengers on over 700 different routes making it one of the most extensive bus systems in the world and the largest in Europe. In the year from October 2009 to September 2010 UK airports handled a total of 211.4 million passengers. In that period the three largest airports were London Heathrow Airport (65.6 million passengers), Gatwick Airport (31.5 million passengers) and London Stansted Airport (18.9 million passengers). London Heathrow Airport, located west of the capital, has the most international passenger traffic of any airport in the world and is the hub for the UK flag carrier British Airways, as well as Virgin Atlantic.Energy
In 2006, the UK was the world's ninth-largest consumer of energy and the 15th-largest producer. The UK is home to many large energy companies, including two of the six oil and gas "supermajors" – BP and Shell plc, Shell. In 2013, the UK produced 914 thousand barrels per day (bbl/d) of oil and consumed 1,507 thousand bbl/d. Production is now in decline and the UK has been a net importer of oil since 2005. the UK had around 3.1 billion barrels of proven North Sea oil, crude oil reserves, the largest of any EU member state. In 2009, the UK was the 13th-largest producer of natural gas in the world and the largest producer in the EU. Production is now in decline and the UK has been a net importer of natural gas since 2004. 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 were 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 2005 it had proven recoverable coal reserves of 171 million tons. The UK Coal Authority has stated there is a potential to produce between 7 billion tonnes and 16 billion tonnes of coal through Underground coal gasification, underground coal gasification (UCG) or 'Hydraulic fracturing, fracking', and that, based on current UK coal consumption, such reserves could last between 200 and 400 years. Environmental and social concerns have been raised over chemicals getting into the water table and minor earthquakes damaging homes. In the late 1990s, nuclear power plants contributed around 25 per cent 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 per cent 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. The total of all renewable electricity sources provided for 38.9 per cent of the electricity generated in the United Kingdom in the third quarter of 2019, producing 28.8TWh of electricity. The UK is Wind power in the United Kingdom, one of the best sites in Europe for wind energy, and wind power production is its fastest-growing supply, in 2019 it generated almost 20 per cent of the UK's total electricity.Water supply and sanitation
Access to improved water supply and sanitation in the UK is universal. It is estimated that 96.7 per cent of households are connected to the sewer network. According to the Environment Agency, total water abstraction for public water supply in the UK was 16,406 megalitres per day in 2007. In England and Wales water and sewerage services are provided by 10 private regional water and sewerage companies and 13 mostly smaller private "water only" companies. In Scotland, water and sewerage services are provided by a single public company, Scottish Water. In Northern Ireland water and sewerage services are also provided by a single public entity, Northern Ireland Water.Demographics
A Census in the United Kingdom, census is taken simultaneously in all parts of the UK every 10 years. In the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census the total population of the United Kingdom was 63,181,775. It is the fourth-largest in Europe (after Russia, Germany and France), the fifth-largest in the Commonwealth and the 22nd-largest in the world. In mid-2014 and mid-2015 net long-term international migration contributed more to population growth. In mid-2012 and mid-2013 natural change contributed the most to population growth. Between 2001 and 2011 the population increased by an average annual rate of approximately 0.7 per cent. This compares to 0.3 per cent per year in the period 1991 to 2001 and 0.2 per cent in the decade 1981 to 1991. The 2011 census also showed that, over the previous 100 years, the proportion of the population aged 0–14 fell from 31 per cent to 18 per cent, and the proportion of people aged 65 and over rose from 5 to 16 per cent. In 2018 the median age of the UK population was 41.7 years. England's population in 2011 was 53 million, representing some 84 per cent of the UK total. It is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, with 420 people resident per square kilometre in mid-2015, with a particular concentration in London and the south-east. The 2011 census put Scotland's population at 5.3 million, Wales at 3.06 million and Northern Ireland at 1.81 million. In 2017 the average total fertility rate (TFR) across the UK was 1.74 children born per woman. While a rising birth rate is contributing to population growth, it remains considerably below the baby boom peak of 2.95 children per woman in 1964, or the high of 6.02 children born per woman in 1815, below the replacement rate of 2.1, but higher than the 2001 record low of 1.63. In 2011, 47.3 per cent of births in the UK were to unmarried women. The Office for National Statistics published a bulletin in 2015 showing that, out of the UK population aged 16 and over, 1.7 per cent identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual (2.0 per cent of males and 1.5 per cent of females); 4.5 per cent of respondents responded with "other", "I don't know", or did not respond. The number of LGBT rights in the United Kingdom, transgender people in the UK was estimated to be between 65,000 and 300,000 by research between 2001 and 2008.Ethnic groups
Historically, indigenous British people were thought to be Genetic history of the British Isles, descended from the various ethnic groups that settled there before the 12th century: the Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Norse and theLanguages
The UK's ''de facto'' official language is English. It is estimated that 95 per cent of the UK's population are monolingual English speakers. 5.5 per cent of the population are estimated to speak languages brought to the UK as a result of relatively recent immigration. South Asian languages are the largest grouping which includes Punjabi language, Punjabi, Urdu, Bengali language, Bengali, Sylheti language, Sylheti, Hindi and Gujarati language, Gujarati. According to the 2011 census, Polish language, Polish has become the second-largest language spoken in England and has 546,000 speakers. In 2019, some three quarters of a million people spoke little or no English. Three indigenous Celtic languages are spoken in the UK: Welsh language, Welsh, Irish language, Irish and Scottish Gaelic. Cornish language, Cornish, which became extinct as a first language in the late 18th century, is subject to revival efforts and has a small group of second language speakers. According to the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the Welsh-speaking population of Wales aged three or older was 538,300 people (17.8 per cent). In addition, it is estimated that about 200,000 Welsh speakers live in England. In the 2011 census in Northern Ireland 167,487 people (10.4 per cent) stated that they had "some knowledge of Irish" (see Irish language in Northern Ireland), almost exclusively in the Irish nationalism, nationalist (mainly Catholic) population. Over 92,000 people in Scotland (just under 2 per cent of the population) had some Gaelic language ability, including 72 per cent of those living in the Outer Hebrides. The number of children being taught either Welsh or Scottish Gaelic is increasing. Among emigrant-descended populations some Scottish Gaelic is still Canadian Gaelic, spoken in Canada (principally Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island), and Welsh in Patagonia, Argentina. Scots language, Scots, a language descended from early northern Middle English, has limited European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, recognition alongside its regional variant, Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster Scots in Northern Ireland, without specific commitments to protection and promotion. As of April 2020, there are said to be around 151,000 users of British Sign Language (BSL), a sign language used by deaf people, in the UK. BSL was recognised as a language of England, Scotland and Wales in law in 2022. It is compulsory for pupils to study a second language from the age of seven in England. French and Spanish are the two most commonly taught second languages in the United Kingdom. All pupils in Wales are either taught Welsh as a second language up to age 16, or are Welsh medium education, taught in Welsh as a first language. Welsh was recognised as having official status in Wales in 2011. Irish was recognised as having official status in Northern Ireland in 2022.Religion
Forms of Christianity have dominated religious life in what is now the United Kingdom for over 1,400 years. Although a majority of citizens still identify with Christianity in many surveys, regular church attendance has fallen dramatically since the middle of the 20th century, while immigration and demographic change have contributed to the growth of other faiths, most notably Islam. This has led some commentators to variously describe the UK as a multi-faith, secularism, secularised, or post-Christian society. In the 2001 census, 71.6 per cent of all respondents indicated that they were Christians, with the next largest faiths being Islam (2.8 per cent), Hinduism (1.0 per cent), Sikhism (0.6 per cent), Judaism (0.5 per cent), Buddhism (0.3 per cent) and all other religions (0.3 per cent). 15 per cent of respondents stated that they had irreligion, no religion, with a further 7 per cent not stating a religious preference. A Tearfund survey in 2007 showed only one in 10 Britons actually attend church weekly. Between the 2001 and 2011 census there was a decrease in the number of people who identified as Christian by 12 per cent, 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 per cent. The Islam in the United Kingdom, Muslim population has increased from 1.6 million in 2001 to 2.7 million in 2011, making it the second-largest religious group in the United Kingdom. In a 2016 survey conducted by British Social Attitudes, BSA (British Social Attitudes) on religious affiliation; 53 per cent of respondents indicated 'irreligious, no religion', while 41 per cent indicated they were Christians, followed by 6 per cent who affiliated with other religions (e.g. Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, etc.). Among Christians, adherents to the Church of England constituted 15 per cent, Catholic Church 9 per cent, and other Christians (including Presbyterians, Methodists, other Protestants, as well as Eastern Orthodox), 17 per cent. 71 per cent of young people aged 18––24 said they had no religion. The Church of England is the State religion, established church in England. It retains a Lords Spiritual, representation in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament and the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British monarch is its Supreme Governor of the Church of England, Supreme Governor. In religion in Scotland, Scotland, the Church of Scotland is recognised as the national church. It is not State religion, subject to state control, and the British monarch is an ordinary member, required to swear an oath to "maintain and preserve the Protestantism, Protestant Religion and Presbyterian polity, Presbyterian Church Government" upon his or her accession. The Church in Wales was disestablished in 1920 and, as the Church of Ireland was disestablished in 1870 before theMigration
The United Kingdom has experienced successive waves of migration. The Great Famine (Ireland), Great Famine in Ireland, then part of the United Kingdom, resulted in perhaps a million people migrating to Great Britain. Throughout the 19th century a small population of 28,644 German immigrants built up in England and Wales. London held around half of this population, and other small communities existed in Manchester, Bradford and elsewhere. The Germans in the United Kingdom, German immigrant community was the largest group until 1891, when it became second to History of the Jews in Russia, Russian Jews. After 1881, Russian Jews suffered bitter persecutions and 2,000,000 left theEducation
Education in the United Kingdom is a Devolution, devolved matter, with each country having a separate education system. Considering the four systems together, about 38 per cent of the United Kingdom population has a university or college degree, which is the highest percentage in Europe, and among the highest percentages in the world. The United Kingdom trails only the United States in terms of representation on lists of top 100 universities. A Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, government commission's report in 2014 found that privately educated people comprise 7 per cent of the general population of the UK but much larger percentages of the top professions, the most extreme case quoted being 71 per cent of senior judges.England
Whilst education in England is the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Education, the day-to-day administration and funding of state schools is the responsibility of Local education authority, local authorities. Universally free of charge state education was introduced piecemeal between 1870 and 1944. Education is now mandatory from ages 5 to 16, and in England youngsters must stay in education or training until they are 18. In 2011, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) rated 13–14-year-old pupils in England and Wales tenth in the world for maths and ninth for science. 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 10 performing schools in terms of GCSE results in 2006 were state-run grammar schools. In 2010, over half of places at the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge were taken by students from state schools, while the proportion of children in England attending private schools is around 7 per cent.Scotland
Education in Scotland is the responsibility of the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, with day-to-day administration and funding of state schools the responsibility of Local Authorities. Two Scottish public bodies, non-departmental public bodies have key roles in Scottish education. The Scottish Qualifications Authority is responsible for the development, accreditation, assessment and certification of qualifications other than degrees which are delivered at secondary schools, Tertiary education, post-secondary colleges of further education and other centres. Learning and Teaching Scotland provides advice, resources and staff development to education professionals. Scotland first legislated for compulsory education in 1496. The proportion of children in Scotland attending private schools is just over 4 per cent in 2016, but it has been falling slowly in recent years. Scottish students who attend Scottish universities pay neither tuition fees nor graduate endowment charges, as fees were abolished in 2001 and the graduate endowment scheme was abolished in 2008.Wales
The Welsh Government's Jeremy Miles, Minister for Education has responsibility for education in Wales. State funded education is available to children from the age of three whilst the legal obligation for parents to have their children educated, usually at school, begins at age five. A sizeable minority of pupils are educated in Welsh whilst the rest are obliged to study the language until the age of 16. Wales' performance in Pisa testing, which compares the academic performance of adolescents around the world, has improved in recent years but remains lower than other parts of the UK. In 2019, just under 60% of entrants passed their main English and math GCSEs. The obligation to receive education in Wales ends at the age of 16. In 2017 and 2018, just under 80% of 16 to 18 and just under 40% of 19 to 24-year-olds were in some kind of education or training.Northern Ireland
Education in Northern Ireland is the responsibility of the Department of Education (Northern Ireland), Minister of Education, although responsibility at a local level is administered by the Education Authority which is further sub-divided into five geographical areas. The Council for the Curriculum, Examinations & Assessment (CCEA) is the body responsible for advising the Northern Ireland Executive, government on what should be taught in Northern Ireland's schools, monitoring standards and awarding qualifications.Healthcare
Healthcare in the United Kingdom is a Devolution, devolved matter and each country has its own system of private and publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare. Public healthcare is provided to all British nationality law, UK permanent residents and is mostly free at the point of need, being paid for from Taxation in the United Kingdom, 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. Since 1979 expenditure on healthcare has been increased significantly. The 2018 OECD data, which incorporates in health a chunk of what in the UK is classified as social care, has the UK spending £3,121 per head. In 2017 the UK spent £2,989 per person on healthcare, around the median for members of theCulture
The culture of the United Kingdom has been influenced by many factors including: the nation's island status; its History of the United Kingdom, 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 theLiterature
"British literature" refers to literature associated with the United Kingdom, thePhilosophy
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 'Scottish School of Common Sense'. The most famous philosophers of British Empiricism are John Locke, George Berkeley and David Hume; while Dugald Stewart, Thomas Reid and Sir William Hamilton, 9th Baronet, William Hamilton were major exponents of the Scottish "common sense" school. Two Britons are also notable for the ethical theory of utilitarianism, a moral philosophy first used by Jeremy Bentham and later by John Stuart Mill in his short work ''Utilitarianism (book), Utilitarianism''.Music
Various styles of music have become popular in the UK, including the indigenous folk music of Folk music of England, England, Music of Wales#Folk music, Wales, Folk music of Scotland, Scotland and Folk music of Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland. Historically, there has been exceptional Renaissance music from the Tudor period, with masses, madrigals and lute music by Thomas Tallis, John Taverner, William Byrd, Orlando Gibbons and John Dowland. After the Stuart Restoration, an English tradition of dramatic masques, anthems and airs became established, led by Henry Purcell, followed by Thomas Arne and others. The German-born composer George Frideric Handel became a Naturalization, naturalised British nationality law, British citizen in 1727, when he composed the anthem ''Zadok the Priest'' for the coronation of George II of Great Britain, George II; it became the traditional ceremonial music for anointing all future monarchs. Handel's many oratorios, such as his famous ''Messiah (Handel), Messiah'', were written in the English language. Ceremonial music is also performed to mark Remembrance Sunday across the UK, including the National Service of Remembrance#Traditional music, Traditional Music played at the Cenotaph. In the second half of the 19th century, as Arthur Sullivan and his librettist W. S. Gilbert wrote their popular Savoy operas, Edward Elgar's wide range of music rivalled that of his contemporaries on the continent. Increasingly, however, composers became inspired by the English countryside and its folk music, notably Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Benjamin Britten, a pioneer of modern British opera. Among the many post-war composers, some of the most notable have made their own personal choice of musical identity: Peter Maxwell Davies (Orkney), Harrison Birtwistle (mythological), and John Tavener (religious). According to the website of ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', the term "pop music" originated in Britain in the mid-1950s to describe rock and roll's fusion with the "new youth music". ''The Oxford Dictionary of Music'' states that artists such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones drove pop music to the forefront of popular music in the early 1960s. In the following years, Britain widely occupied a part in the development of rock music, with British acts pioneering hard rock; raga rock; Heavy metal music, heavy metal; space rock; glam rock; Gothic rock, and ska punk. In addition, British acts developed psychedelic rock; and punk rock. Besides rock music, British acts also developed neo soul and created dubstep. Pop music, Pop remains the most popular music genre by sales and streams of Single (music), singles, with 33.4 per cent of that market in 2016, followed by Hip hop music, hip-hop and Rhythm and blues, R&B at 24.5 per cent. Rock music, Rock is not far behind, at 22.6 per cent. The modern UK is known to produce some of the most prominent English-speaking rappers along with the United States, including Stormzy, Kano (rapper), Kano, Yxng Bane, Ramz (rapper), Ramz, Little Simz and Skepta. The Beatles have international sales of over 1 billion units and are the List of best-selling music artists, biggest-selling and Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band in the history of popular music. Other prominent British contributors to have influenced popular music over the last 50 years include The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Queen (band), Queen, Led Zeppelin, the Bee Gees, and Elton John, all of whom have worldwide record sales of 200 million or more. The Brit Awards are the British Phonographic Industry, BPI's annual music awards, and some of the British recipients of the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, Outstanding Contribution to Music award include; The Who, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart, The Police, and Fleetwood Mac (who are a British-American band). More recent UK music acts that have had international success include George Michael, Oasis (band), Oasis, Spice Girls, Radiohead, Coldplay, Arctic Monkeys, Robbie Williams, Amy Winehouse, Adele, Ed Sheeran, One Direction and Harry Styles. A number of UK cities are known for their music. Acts from Liverpool have had 54 UK chart number 1 hit singles, more per capita than any other city worldwide. Glasgow's contribution to music was recognised in 2008 when it was named a UNESCO City of Music (UNESCO), City of Music. Manchester played a role in the spread of dance music such as acid house, and from the mid-1990s, Britpop. London and Bristol are closely associated with the origins of electronic music sub-genres such as drum and bass and trip hop. Birmingham became known as the birthplace of heavy metal music, heavy metal, with the band Black Sabbath starting there in the 1960s.Visual art
The history of British visual art forms part of western art history. Major British artists include: the Romanticism, Romantics William Blake, John Constable, Samuel Palmer and J.M.W. Turner; the portrait painters Joshua Reynolds, Sir Joshua Reynolds and Lucian Freud; the landscape artists Thomas Gainsborough and L. S. Lowry; the pioneer of the Arts and Crafts Movement William Morris; the figurative painter Francis Bacon (artist), Francis Bacon; the Pop artists Peter Blake (artist), Peter Blake, Richard Hamilton (artist), Richard Hamilton and David Hockney; the pioneers of Conceptual art movement Art & Language; the collaborative duo Gilbert and George; the Abstract art, abstract artist Howard Hodgkin; and the sculptors Antony Gormley, Anish Kapoor and Henry Moore. During the late 1980s and 1990s the Saatchi Gallery in London helped to bring to public attention a group of multi-genre artists who would become known as the "Young British Artists": Damien Hirst, Chris Ofili, Rachel Whiteread, Tracey Emin, Mark Wallinger, Steve McQueen (director), Steve McQueen, Sam Taylor-Wood and the Jake and Dinos Chapman, Chapman Brothers are among the better-known members of this loosely affiliated movement. The Royal Academy in London is a key organisation for the promotion of the visual arts in the United Kingdom. Major schools of art in the UK include: the six-school University of the Arts London, which includes the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and Chelsea College of Art and Design; Goldsmiths, University of London; the Slade School of Fine Art (part of University College London); the Glasgow School of Art; the Royal College of Art; and The Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art (part of the University of Oxford). The Courtauld Institute of Art is a leading centre for the teaching of the history of art. Important art galleries in the United Kingdom include the National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery (London), 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).Cinema
The United Kingdom has had a considerable influence on the history of the cinema. The British directors Alfred Hitchcock, whose film ''Vertigo (film), Vertigo'' is considered by some critics as the List of films considered the best, best film of all time, and David Lean are among the most critically acclaimed of all time. Many British actors have achieved international fame and critical success. Some of the most commercially successful films of all time have been produced in the United Kingdom, including two of the List of highest-grossing film series, highest-grossing film franchises (''Harry Potter (film series), Harry Potter'' and ''James Bond (film series), James Bond''). Ealing Studios has a claim to being the oldest continuously working film studio in the world. In 2009, British films grossed around $2 billion worldwide and achieved a market share of around 7 per cent globally and 17 per cent in the United Kingdom. UK box-office takings totalled £944 million in 2009, with around 173 million admissions. The annual British Academy Film Awards are hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.Cuisine
British cuisine developed from various influences reflective of its land, settlements, arrivals of new settlers and immigrants, trade and colonialism. Celtic fields, Celtic agriculture and animal breeding produced a wide variety of foodstuffs for indigenous Celts and Britons (historic), Britons. Anglo-Saxon England developed meat and savoury herb stewing techniques before the practice became common in Europe. The Norman conquest introduced exotic spices into England in the Middle Ages. TheMedia
TheSymbols
The flag of the United Kingdom is the Union Flag (also referred to as the Union Jack). It was created in 1606 by the superimposition of the Flag of England, representing Saint George, on the Flag of Scotland, representing Saint Andrew, and was updated in 1801 with the addition of Saint Patrick's Flag. Wales is not represented in the Union Flag, as Wales had been conquered and annexed to England prior to the formation of the United Kingdom. The possibility of redesigning the Union Flag to include representation of Wales has not been completely ruled out. The national anthem of the United Kingdom is "God Save the King", with "King" replaced with "Queen" in the lyrics whenever the monarch is a woman. Britannia is a national personification of the United Kingdom, originating from Roman Britain. Britannia is symbolised as a young woman with brown or golden hair, wearing a Corinthian helmet and white robes. She holds Poseidon's three-pronged trident and a shield, bearing the Union Flag. Beside The Lion and the Unicorn, the lion and the unicorn and the Welsh Dragon, dragon of heraldry, the bulldog is an iconic animal and commonly represented with the Union Jack. It has been associated with Winston Churchill's defiance ofSport
Association football, tennis, table tennis, badminton, rugby union, rugby league, rugby sevens, golf, boxing, netball, water polo, field hockey, English billiards, billiards, darts, Rowing (sport), rowing, rounders and cricket originated or were substantially developed in the UK, with the rules and codes of many modern sports invented and codified in the late 19th century Victorian Britain. In 2012, the President of the IOC, Jacques Rogge, stated, "This great, sports-loving country is widely recognised as the birthplace of modern sport. It was here that the concepts of sportsmanship and fair play were first codified into clear rules and regulations. It was here that sport was included as an educational tool in the school curriculum". A 2003 poll found that football is the most popular sport in the United Kingdom. England is recognised by FIFA as the birthplace of club football, and The Football Association is the oldest of its kind, with the Laws of the Game (association football), rules of football first drafted in 1863 by Ebenezer Cobb Morley. Each of the Home Nations has its own football association, national team and league system and individually are the governing members of the International Football Association Board alongside FIFA. The English top division, the Premier League, is the most watched football league in the world. The first international football match was contested by England national football team, England and Scotland national football team, Scotland on 30 November 1872. England, Scotland, Wales national football team, Wales and Northern Ireland national football team, Northern Ireland usually compete as separate countries in international competitions. In 2003, rugby union was ranked the second most popular sport in the UK. The sport was created in Rugby School, Warwickshire, and the 1871 England versus Scotland rugby union match, first rugby international took place on 27 March 1871 between England national rugby union team, England and Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland. England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France and Italy compete in the Six Nations Championship; the premier international tournament in the northern hemisphere. Sport governing body, Sport governing bodies in Rugby union in England, England, Rugby union in Scotland, Scotland, Rugby union in Wales, Wales and Rugby union in Ireland, Ireland organise and regulate the game separately. Every four years, England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales make a combined team known as the British and Irish Lions. The team tours Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Cricket was invented in England, and its Laws of cricket, laws were established by the Marylebone Cricket Club in 1788. The England cricket team, controlled by the England and Wales Cricket Board, and the Irish cricket team, controlled by Cricket Ireland are the only national teams in the UK with Test cricket, Test status. Team members are drawn from the main county sides, and include both English and Welsh players. Cricket is distinct from football and rugby where Wales and England field separate national teams, although Wales had fielded its own team in the past. Cricket in Scotland, Scottish players have played for England because Scotland national cricket team, Scotland does not have Test status and has only recently started to play in One Day Internationals. Scotland, England (and Wales), and Ireland (including Northern Ireland) have competed at the Cricket World Cup, with England winning the tournament in 2019. There is a professional County Championship, league championship in which clubs representing 17 English counties and 1 Welsh county compete. The modern game of tennis originated in Birmingham, England, in the 1860s, before spreading around the world. The world's oldest tennis tournament, the Wimbledon championships, first occurred in 1877, and today the event takes place over two weeks in late June and early July. The UK is closely associated with motorsport. Many teams and drivers in Formula One (F1) are based in the UK, and the country has won more List of Formula One World Drivers' Champions, drivers' and List of Formula One World Constructors' Champions, constructors' Formula One World Championship, titles than any other. The UK hosted the first F1 Grand Prix in 1950 at Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, the location of the British Grand Prix held each year in July. 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, the world's oldest golf course is actually Musselburgh Links' Old Golf Course. In 1764, the standard 18-hole golf course was created at St Andrews when members modified the course from 22 to 18 holes. 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. Rugby league originated in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire in 1895 and is generally played in Northern England. 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 national rugby league team, England, Scotland national rugby league team, Scotland and Ireland national rugby league team, Ireland competed as separate nations. 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, and one each from London, Wales and France. The Marquess of Queensberry rules, 'Queensberry rules', the code of general rules in boxing, was named after John Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry in 1867, and formed the basis of modern boxing. Snooker is another of the UK's popular sporting exports, with the world championships held annually in Sheffield. In Northern Ireland, Gaelic football and hurling are popular team sports, both in terms of participation and spectating. Irish expatriates in the UK and the US also play them. Shinty (or ''camanachd'') is popular in the Scottish Highlands. Highland games are held in spring and summer in Scotland, celebrating Scottish and celtic culture and heritage, especially that of the Scottish Highlands.See also
* Outline of the United Kingdom ** Outline of England ** Outline of Northern Ireland ** Outline of Scotland ** Outline of Wales * Index of United Kingdom-related articles * International rankings of the United Kingdom * Historiography of the United Kingdom * Historiography of the British Empire * United Kingdom–Crown Dependencies Customs UnionNotes
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