United Kingdom

• temperate;
• moderated by prevailing southwest winds over the North Atlantic Current;
• more than one-half of the days are overcast

• sulfur dioxide emissions from power plants contribute to air pollution;
• some rivers polluted by agricultural wastes and coastal waters polluted because of large-scale disposal of sewage at sea

• 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

0-14 years:

19% (male 5,647,549; female 5,386,750) 15-64 years : 65% (male 18,532,243; female 18,757,168)

65 years and over:

16% (male 3,808,399; female 5,459,568) (July 1997 est.)

at birth :

1.05 male(s)/female

under 15 years:

1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years : 0.99 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.7 male(s)/female

total population:

0.94 male(s)/female (1997 est.)

total population:

77.25 years

male:

74.67 years

female:

79.96 years (1997 est.)

noun:

Briton(s), British (collective plural)

adjective:

British

conventional long form:

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

conventional short form:

United Kingdom

abbreviation:

UK

• 47 counties, 7 metropolitan counties, 26 districts, 9 regions, and 3 islands areas;
• England - 39 counties, 7 metropolitan counties*;
• Avon, Bedford, Berkshire, Buckingham, Cambridge, Cheshire, Cleveland, Cornwall, Cumbria, Derby, Devon, Dorset, Durham, East Sussex, Essex, Gloucester, Greater London*, Greater Manchester*, Hampshire, Hereford and Worcester, Hertford, Humberside, Isle of Wight, Kent, Lancashire, Leicester, Lincoln, Merseyside*, Norfolk, Northampton, Northumberland, North Yorkshire, Nottingham, Oxford, Shropshire, Somerset, South Yorkshire*, Stafford, Suffolk, Surrey, Tyne and Wear*, Warwick, West Midlands*, West Sussex, West Yorkshire*, Wiltshire;
• Northern Ireland - 26 districts;
• Antrim, Ards, Armagh, Ballymena, Ballymoney, Banbridge, Belfast, Carrickfergus, Castlereagh, Coleraine, Cookstown, Craigavon, Down, Dungannon, Fermanagh, Larne, Limavady, Lisburn, Londonderry, Magherafelt, Moyle, Newry and Mourne, Newtownabbey, North Down, Omagh, Strabane;
• Scotland - 9 regions, 3 islands areas*;
• Borders, Central, Dumfries and Galloway, Fife, Grampian, Highland, Lothian, Orkney*, Shetland*, Strathclyde, Tayside, Western Isles*;
• Wales - 8 counties;
• Clwyd, Dyfed, Gwent, Gwynedd, Mid Glamorgan, Powys, South Glamorgan, West Glamorgan

• common law tradition with early Roman and modern continental influences;
• no judicial review of Acts of Parliament;
• accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations

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 Tony BLAIR (since 2 May 1997)

cabinet:

Cabinet of Ministers appointed by the prime minister

elections:

• none;
• the queen is a hereditary monarch;
• prime minister is the leader of the majority party in the House of Commons and must have the consent of the monarch

• Trades Union Congress;
• Confederation of British Industry;
• National Farmers' Union;
• Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

AfDB, AG (observer), AsDB, Australia Group, BIS, C, CCC, CDB (non-regional), CE, CERN, 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, MTCR, NACC, NATO, NEA, NSG, OECD, OSCE, PCA, UN, UN Security Council, UNAVEM III, UNCTAD, UNFICYP, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIKOM, UNOMIG, UNRWA, UNTAES, UNU, UPU, WCL, WEU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTrO, ZC

chief of mission:

Ambassador Sir John Olav KERR (will return to London in late 1997)

chancery:

3100 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008

telephone :

[1] (202) 588-6500

chief of mission:

Ambassador William J. CROWE, Jr.

embassy:

24/31 Grosvenor Square, London, W. 1A1AE

mailing address:

PSC 801, Box 40, London; FPO AE 09498-4040

telephone:

[44] (71) 499-9000

• blue with the red cross of Saint George (patron saint of England) edged in white superimposed on the diagonal red cross of Saint Patrick (patron saint of Ireland) which is superimposed on the diagonal white cross of Saint Andrew (patron saint of Scotland);
• known as the Union Flag or Union Jack;
• the design and colors (especially the Blue Ensign) have been the basis for a number of other flags including dependencies, Commonwealth countries, and others

• cereals, oilseed, potatoes, vegetables;
• cattle, sheep, poultry;
• fish

total value:

$240.4 billion (f.o.b., 1995)

commodities :

manufactured goods, machinery, fuels, chemicals, semifinished goods, transport equipment

partners:

EU countries 56.4% (Germany 12.7%, France 9.9%, Netherlands 7.0%), US 13.1% (1994)

total value :

$258.8 billion (f.o.b., 1995)

commodities:

manufactured goods, machinery, semifinished goods, foodstuffs, consumer goods

partners:

EU countries 54.9% (Germany 14.6%, France 10.0%, Netherlands 6.7%), US 12.2% (1994)

total :

17,561 km

broad gauge:

434 km 1.600-m gauge (190 km double track); note - all 1.600-m gauge track, of which 357 km is in common carrier use, is in Northern Ireland

standard gauge:

• 16,892 km 1.435-m gauge (4,928 km electrified; 12,591 km double or multiple track);
• note - 16,532 km of 1.435-m routes are in common carrier service;
• the remaining 360 km are operated by a total of 40 tourist or other private companies

narrow gauge:

• 235 km 0.260-m, 0.311-m, 0.381-m, 0.600-m, 0.610-m, 0.686-m, 0.760-m, 0.762-m, 0.800-m, 0.825-m, 0.914-m and 1.067-m gauges;
• note - these short, narrow-gage lines are operated by a total of 25 tourist and other private firms (1995)

total:

388,831 km (1994 est.)

paved:

NA km (including 3,284 km of expressways)

unpaved:

NA km

• crude oil (almost all insignificant) 933 km;
• petroleum products 2,993 km;
• natural gas 12,800 km

• Northern Ireland question with Ireland;
• Gibraltar question with Spain;
• Argentina claims Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas);
• Argentina claims South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands;
• Mauritius claims island of Diego Garcia in British Indian Ocean Territory;
• Rockall continental shelf dispute involving Denmark, Iceland, and Ireland (Ireland and the UK have signed a boundary agreement in the Rockall area);
• territorial claim in Antarctica (British Antarctic Territory)

• gateway country for Latin American cocaine entering the European market;
• producer of synthetic drugs, precursor chemicals;
• transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin;
• money-laundering center UNITED STATES