Irrigated land: 1,080 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: NA

Environment-current issues: 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

Environment-international agreements:
party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air
Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds,
Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, 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: none of the selected agreements

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

@United Kingdom:People

Population: 58,970,119 (July 1998 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 19% (male 5,832,086; female 5,530,679)
15-64 years: 65% (male 19,304,762; female 19,032,024)
65 years and over: 16% (male 3,807,710; female 5,462,858) (July 1998
est.)

Population growth rate: 0.25% (1998 est.)

Birth rate: 12.01 births/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Death rate: 10.72 deaths/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Net migration rate: 1.2 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.7 male(s)/female (1998 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 5.87 deaths/1,000 live births (1998 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 77.19 years
male: 74.57 years
female: 79.96 years (1998 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.7 children born/woman (1998 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Briton(s), British (collective plural)
adjective: British

Ethnic groups: English 81.5%, Scottish 9.6%, Irish 2.4%, Welsh 1.9%,
Ulster 1.8%, West Indian, Indian, Pakistani, and other 2.8%

Religions: Anglican 27 million, Roman Catholic 9 million, Muslim 1
million, Presbyterian 800,000, Methodist 760,000, Sikh 400,000, Hindu
350,000, Jewish 300,000 (1991 est.)
note: the UK does not include a question on religion in its census

Languages: English, Welsh (about 26% of