UNITED KINGDOM

GOVERMENT TYPE

parliamentary constitutional monarchy; a Commonwealth realm

CAPITAL CITY

LONDON

HEAD CHIEF OF STATE

Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952)

HEAD OF GOVERMENT

Prime Minister Theresa MAY (since 13 July 2016)

FLAG

UNION JACK

ELECTIONS

EVERY FIVE YEARS

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

AREA

total: 243,610 sq km
land: 241,930 sq km
water: 1,680 sq km
note: includes Rockall and Shetland Islands
country comparison to the world: 80

BORDERS

IRELAND

CURRENCY

GBP (POUND)

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE

5.1% (2016)

POPULATION BELOW POVERTY LINE

15% (2013)

NATIONALITY

BRITON/BRITISH

ETHNIC GROUPS (2011)

white 87.2%

black/African/Caribbean/black British 3%

Asian/Asian British: Indian 2.3%

Asian/Asian British: Pakistani 1.9%

mixed 2%

other 3.7%

LANGUAGE

ENGLISH

RELIGIOUS (2011)

Christian (includes Anglican, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist) 59.5%

Muslim 4.4%

Hindu 1.3%

other 2%

unspecified 7.2%

none 25.7%

POPULATION

64,430,428 (July 2016)