United Kingdom

United Kingdom

Official name: The United Kingdom of Great  Britain And  Northern Ireland.

Locaton: the state is located  in the north-west of Europe. It occupies the great Britain  island  ( England , Scotland and Wales  ) and  a part of Ireland. In the north and  west  it is washed by   the Atlantic ocean, in the east – by the North sea , in the north  it is separated from the continent  by the English channel.

Capital city:  London

The area: 244 820  sq.m.
Big cities:  Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Sheffield, Liverpool, Edinburgh,  Belfast,  Cardiff.

Resorts:  Bath,  Cheltenham   and   Weston – Super – Mer  -  sea resorts with mineral  springs.  Lamingto , Llandrindod, Built , Planarity ,Harrogate  and  Buxton  -are famous balneal resorts.

Population: 60,5 mln.  ( end of  2006 ).  Ethnical groups  of Britain: the English - 81,5%, the  Scots - 9,6%, The Irish  - 2,4%,  the Welsh  - 1,9%,  the Ulster  -1,8%, as well as  the Indians, Pakistanis, Chinese, Arabs, Africans  – 2,8%.

Climate:  semi-ocean, mild and wet. The coldest month – January  ( +2С ; +7С),  the warmest  -  July  +11С  +17С).

The state language:  English; in Scotland – Scotch dialect, in the  Northern Ireland -  Irish , in Wales  –  Welsh.

Political Structure:  Great Britain – is a Constitutional Monarchy   with the Queen at the head.  The legislature  - is a 2-chamber Parliament   ( The chamber of commons and the chamber of lords).  The prime-minister is at the head of the  government.   Since  the 27th of June  2007 – the prime minister  of great Britain is  Gordon Brown. Great Britain  -  is a member of  U.N.O.  starting  1945.  It is a member of  The Council  of Europe and NATO since  1949 ,  EU -  since  1973.  Great Britain is still out of The Schengen  zone.

 Currency:  British Pound  (10 GBP = 20.0240 USD , July  2007)

Religion:  Around  87%  of the believers  -  orthodox. 57% – belong to the Anglican church.

Holidays:
January 1:  New Year
March 17 :  St. Patrick’s day in the northern Ireland
The second Saturday of June :  The Queen’s birthday  (official )
December  25th  :  Christmas