Natalie's+Europe+Project

=United Kingdom= toc

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, otherwise known as the United Kingdom, has geography that varies, a specific lifestyle of the people, and a government with a constitutional monarchy. The United Kingdom is an island country located just off the northwestern coast of Europe. The geography is different in different parts of the United Kingdom. People who live in the United Kingdom are British and called Britons. The government is a constitutional monarchy with a queen, currently Queen Elizabeth II. London is the biggest city and is also to capital, with a population of 10.313 million people. Today the United Kingdom has a unique system of government, a typical lifestyle, and diverse geography.

Geography
The United Kingdom is located just off the northwestern coast of Europe. The United Kingdom is an island country. It is located northwest of France in between the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea. It consists of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. England, Scotland, and Wales are all included in Great Britain. The north and west are covered in high ground mountain ridges that are separated by deep valleys. The south consists of mostly rolling hills. The United Kingdom has important rivers that flow into the North Sea. These rivers include Thames, Humber, Tees, and Tyne. They usually tend to be narrow, long, and very deep.

Some natural resources of the United Kingdom include coal, natural gas, petroleum, iron ore, lead, tin, gold, zinc, limestone, salt, clay, chalk, and more. The United Kingdom is located on an archipelago, known as the British Isles with main islands of Great Britain and Ireland and other surrounding island groups. These other island groups include the Hebrides, the Shetlands, the Orkneys, the Isle of Man and the Isle of Wight. The United Kingdom is very small, a little bit smaller than the state of Oregon. The area is about 242,900 kilometers squared. The United Kingdom has geography that varies in different places.

Photographed above is a labeled map of the United Kingdom.

People
The People who live in the United Kingdom are called Britons, or the British. The population of the United Kingdom is 64,088,222 as of July 2015. The official language of the UK is English. The most popular age range in the United Kingdom is between 25-54 years-old. The most populated place in the United Kingdom is London, the capital. London has a population of 10.313 million people. This isn’t the only populated area. Birmingham and Manchester are also very populated. The unemployment rate is 5.4% as of February 2015.

The average life expectancy is 81.50 years, which is a pretty high number. The infant mortality rate is 4.38 deaths/1,000 live births. About 59.5% of the population is Christian. The second most popular religion is Islam, but only 4.4% of the population is Muslim. About 87.2% of Britons are white. Education is important in the United Kingdom. There are hundreds of universities, schools, and colleges, including some famous ones. Education is free and mandatory for children from ages 5-16. People in the United Kingdom are similar and different from the rest of the people in the world. Photographed above is a picture of the flag of the United Kingdom.

Government
The United Kingdom has a constitutional monarchy that also has a parliamentary democracy. They have a queen and a parliament that has two houses. The first house is the House of Lords. It has 574 life peers, ninety-two hereditary peers, and twenty-six bishops. The main role in this house is to revise legislation. The supreme legislative powers are vested in the parliament. The second house is the House of Commons with 651 popularly elected members.

Their government has three branches, the executive, the legislative, and the judicial branches. In the executive branch, there is a monarch. The current monarch of the United Kingdom is Queen Elizabeth II. She is the queen and Head of State of 15 other commonwealth realms. The monarchy is hereditary. The head of government is Prime Minister David Cameron. The cabinet is appointed by the prime minister. The legislative is that branch with the two houses, the House of the Lords and the House of Commons. In the House of Lords, there is no election. In the House of Commons, there is a percent of vote by party. Finally, the judicial branch consists of the supreme court and consists of twelve justices. The United Kingdom has a constitutional monarchy with three branches of government.