ion

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: 58,295,119 (July 1995 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 19% (female 5,572,189; male 5,843,192)
15-64 years: 65% (female 18,723,583; male 18,935,931)
65 years and over: 16% (female 5,471,383; male 3,748,841) (July 1995
est.)

Population growth rate: 0.27% (1995 est.)

Birth rate: 13.18 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Death rate: 10.66 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Net migration rate: 0.17 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 7 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 77 years
male: 74.18 years
female: 79.95 years (1995 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.82 children born/woman (1995 est.)

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

Ethnic divisions: 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 the population of Wales),
Scottish form of Gaelic (about 60,000 in Scotland)

Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1991 est.)
total population: 99%

Labor force: 28.048 million
by occupation: services 62.8%, manufacturing and construction 25.0%,
government 9.1%, energy 1.9%, agriculture 1.2% (June 1992)

@United Kingdom:Government

Names:
conventional long form: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland
conventional short form: United Kingdom

Abbreviation: UK

Digraph: UK

Type: constitutional monarchy

Capital: London

Administrative divisions: 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