As
one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council, a founding
member of NATO, and of the Commonwealth, the UK pursues a global
approach to foreign policy; it currently is weighing the degree
of its integration with continental Europe. A member of the EU,
it chose to remain outside of the European Monetary Union for the
time being. Constitutional reform is also a significant issue in
the UK. Regional assemblies with varying degrees of power opened
in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland in 1999.
Tourist
Information
The
British Tourist Authority (last
accessed 21/01/04).
Background
Reading
Banks
warns against rushing Euro timetable (added 29 May 2002)
Newspapers
The
Times
The
Independant
The
Guardian
The
Financial Times
European
Voice - Independant news about the EU
EU
Observer - General round-up of EU news
Financial
Statistics
World
Bank Data by Country click
here for data on the United
Kingdom
National Statistics
Office
Bank of England
Department for Education
and Skills
Department for
Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA)
Department of
Health
Department
of Transport, Local Government and the Regions (DTLR)
Home Office
Treasury
Nationwide Monthly House
price Index
IMF
DSBB site; current economic and financial data in International
Monetary Fund
United
Nations InfoNation
Geography
Location: Western Europe, islands including the northern one-sixth of the
island of Ireland between the North Atlantic Ocean and the North
Sea, northwest of France.
Geographic coordinates: 54 00 N, 2 00 W
Map references: Europe
Area: total: 244,820 sq km
land: 241,590 sq km
water: 3,230 sq km (note: includes Rockall and Shetland Islands)
Area: comparative: slightly smaller than Oregon
Land boundaries: total: 360 km
border countries: Ireland 360 km
Coastline: 12,429 km
Maritime claims:
continental shelf: as defined in continental shelf orders or in
accordance with agreed upon boundaries
exclusive fishing zone: 200 NM
territorial sea: 12 NM
Climate:
temperate; moderated by prevailing southwest winds over the North
Atlantic Current; more than one-half of the days are overcast
Terrain: mostly rugged hills and low mountains;
level to rolling plains in east and southeast
Elevation extremes: lowest point: Fenland -4 m
highest point: Ben Nevis 1,343 m
Natural resources:
coal, petroleum, natural gas, tin, limestone, iron ore, salt, clay,
chalk, gypsum, lead, silica, arable land
Land use:
arable land: 25%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 46%
forests and woodland: 10%
other: 19% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 1,080 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: NA
Environment - current issues: continues to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (has meet Kyoto Protocol
target of a 12.5% reduction from 1990 levels and hopes to reduce
even more); small particulate emissions, largely from vehicular
traffic, remain a problem; solid waste continues to rise and recycling
is very limited
Environment - international agreements: party to: Air Pollution,
Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile
Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine
Living Resources, Antarctic Seals, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity,
Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental
Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping,
Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection,
Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands,
Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants,
Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol
Geography - note: lies near vital North Atlantic
sea lanes; only 35 km from France and now linked by tunnel under
the English Channel; because of heavily indented coastline, no location
is more than 125 km from tidal waters
Government
Country
name:
conventional long form: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland
conventional short form: United Kingdom
abbreviation: UK
Government
type: constitutional monarchy
Capital: London
Independence: England has existed as a unified entity since the
10th century; the union between England and Wales was enacted under
the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284; in the Act of Union of 1707, England
and Scotland agreed to permanent union as Great Britain; the legislative
union of Great Britain and Ireland was implemented in 1801, with
the adoption of the name the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland; the Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921 formalized a partition of
Ireland; six northern Irish counties remained part of the United
Kingdom as Northern Ireland and the current name of the country,
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, was adopted
in 1927
Constitution: unwritten; partly statutes, partly common law and
practice
Legal system: common law tradition with early Roman and modern continental
influences; no judicial review of Acts of Parliament; accepts compulsory
ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations; British courts and legislation
are increasingly subject to review by European Union courts
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
Executive branch
- Chief
of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952); Heir Apparent
Prince CHARLES (son of the queen, born 14 November 1948)
- Head
of government: Prime Minister Anthony C. L. (Tony) BLAIR (since
2 May 1997)
- Cabinet:
Cabinet of Ministers appointed by the prime minister
- Elections:
none; the monarch is hereditary; the prime minister is the leader
of the majority party in the House of Commons (assuming there
is no majority party, a prime minister would have a majority
coalition or at least a coalition that was not rejected by the
majority)
Legislative
branch
- Bbicameral
Parliament comprised of House of Lords (consists of approximately
500 life peers, 92 hereditary peers and 26 clergy) and House
of Commons (659 seats; members are elected by popular vote to
serve five-year terms unless the House is dissolved earlier)
- Elections:
House of Lords - no elections (some proposals for further reform
include elections); House of Commons - last held 7 June 2001
(next to be held by NA May 2006)
- Election
results: House of Commons - percent of vote by party - NA%;
seats by party - Labor 412, Conservative and Unionist 166, Liberal
Democrat 52, other 29
- Note:
in 1998 elections were held for a Northern Ireland Parliament
(because of unresolved disputes among existing parties, the
transfer of power from London to Northern Ireland came only
at the end of 1999 and was rescinded in February 2000); in 1999
there were elections for a new Scottish Parliament and a new
Welsh Assembly
Judicial
branch
- House
of Lords (highest court of appeal; several Lords of Appeal in
Ordinary are appointed by the monarch for life); Supreme Courts
of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland (comprising the Courts
of Appeal, the High Courts of Justice, and the Crown Courts);
Scotland's Court of Session and Court of the Justiciary
Political
parties and leaders: Conservative and Unionist Party [Iain
Duncan SMITH]; Democratic Unionist Party (Northern Ireland) [Rev.
Ian PAISLEY]; Labor Party [Anthony (Tony) Blair]; Liberal Democrats
[Charles KENNEDY]; Party of Wales (Plaid Cymru) [Ieuan Wyn JONES];
Scottish National Party or SNP [John SWINNEY]; Sinn Fein (Northern
Ireland) [Gerry ADAMS]; Social Democratic and Labor Party or SDLP
(Northern Ireland) [John HUME]; Ulster Unionist Party (Northern
Ireland) [David TRIMBLE]
Political
pressure groups and leaders: Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament;
Confederation of British Industry; National Farmers' Union; Trades
Union Congress
International organization participation: AfDB,
AsDB, Australia Group, BIS, C, CCC, CDB (non-regional), CE, CERN,
EAPC, EBRD, ECA (associate), ECE, ECLAC, EIB, ESA, ESCAP, EU, FAO,
G- 5, G- 7, G-10, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA,
IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol,
IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, MONUC, NAM (guest), NATO, NEA, NSG,
OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, SPC, UN, UN Security Council,
UNAMSIL, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNFICYP, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIKOM, UNMIBH,
UNMIK, UNOMIG, UNRWA, UNTAET, UNU, UPU, WCL, WEU, WHO, WIPO, WMO,
WTrO, ZC
00 (switchboard)
Economy
Overview: The UK, a leading trading power and financial center,
deploys an essentially capitalistic economy, one of the quartet
of trillion dollar economies of Western Europe. Over the past two
decades the government has greatly reduced public ownership and
contained the growth of social welfare programs. Agriculture is
intensive, highly mechanized, and efficient by European standards,
producing about 60% of food needs with only 1% of the labor force.
The UK has large coal, natural gas, and oil reserves; primary energy
production accounts for 10% of GDP, one of the highest shares of
any industrial nation. Services, particularly banking, insurance,
and business services, account by far for the largest proportion
of GDP while industry continues to decline in importance. The economy
has grown steadily, at just above or below 3%, for the last several
years. The BLAIR government has put off the question of participation
in the euro system until after the next election, in June of 2001;
Chancellor of the Exchequer BROWN has identified some key economic
tests to determine whether the UK should join the common currency
system, but it will largely be a political decision. A serious short-term
problem is foot-and-mouth disease, which by early 2001 had broken
out in nearly 600 farms and slaughterhouses and had resulted in
the killing of 400,000 animals.
GDP: purchasing power parity - $1.36 trillion (2000 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 3% (2000 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $22,800 (2000 est.)
GDP
- composition by sector:
agriculture: 1.7%
industry: 24.9%
services: 73.4% (1999)
Population
below poverty line: 17%
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 2.6%
highest 10%: 27.3% (1991)
Inflation
rate (consumer prices): 2.4% (2000 est.)
Labor force: 29.2 million (1999)
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 1%, industry 19%, services
80% (1996 est.)
Unemployment rate: 5.5% (2000 est.)
Budget: revenues: $555.2 billion
Expenditures: $510.8 billion, including capital expenditures of
$37.7 billion (FY00)
Industries: machine tools, electric power equipment,
automation equipment, railroad equipment, shipbuilding, aircraft,
motor vehicles and parts, electronics and communications equipment,
metals, chemicals, coal, petroleum, paper and paper products, food
processing, textiles, clothing, and other consumer goods
Industrial production growth rate: 2% (2000)
Electricity - production: 342.771 billion kWh (1999)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 69.38%
hydro: 1.55%
nuclear: 26.68%
other: 2.39% (1999)
Electricity - consumption: 333.012 billion kWh (1999)
Electricity - exports: 265 million kWh (1999)
Electricity - imports: 14.5 billion kWh (1999)
Agriculture - products: cereals, oilseed, potatoes, vegetables;
cattle, sheep, poultry; fish
Exports: $282 billion (f.o.b., 2000)
Exports - commodities: manufactured goods, fuels, chemicals; food,
beverages, tobacco
Exports - partners: EU 58% (Germany 12%, France 10%, Netherlands
8%), US 15% (1999)
Imports: $324 billion (f.o.b., 2000)
Imports - commodities: manufactured goods, machinery, fuels; foodstuffs
Imports - partners: EU 53% (Germany 14%, France 9%, Netherlands
7%), US 13%, Japan 5% (1999)
Debt - external: $NA
Economic aid - donor: ODA, $3.4 billion (1997)
Currency: British pound (GBP)
Currency code: GBP
Exchange rates: British pounds per US dollar - 0.6764 (January 2001),
0.6596 (2000), 0.6180 (1999), 0.6037 (1998), 0.6106 (1997), 0.6403
(1996)
Fiscal year: 1 April - 31 March
(Figures
reproduced from The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) |
