Facts about the UK
Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in the United Kingdom. It is 1,344m tall.
-
The full name of the UK is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
-
The official language is English. The recognized regional lanuages are Scots, Gaelic, Welsh, Irish and Cornish.
-
The main religion is Christianity. 60% of people are Christian.
-
​The second biggest religion in the UK is atheism, at 27%.
-
The money used in the UK is Pound sterling.
-
There are 15 National Parks in the UK which cover over 8% of the land area.
-
There are 27 World heritage sites in the UK.
-
The UK is the 80th largest country in the world.
-
The internet country code for the UK is .uk
-
The UK has no active volcanoes.
10 facts about the Geography of the UK
-
The capital of the UK is London, and London is the UK's largest city.
-
The United Kingdom is made up of four different countries, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
-
There are no mountains in England higher than 1,000 m.
-
The UK is in Europe, in North-West Europe.
-
The UK has one land border with the Republic of Ireland.
-
The UK sits next to the North Sea, the Irish Sea, the English Channel and the Atlantic Ocean.
-
London was the largest city in the world from 1831 to 1925.
-
Great Britain is the 8th largest island in the world.
-
The UK lies on the prime meridian.
-
The UK has 12,429 kilometres of coastline.
UK rivers
worksheet
Free to download, click on the image above
10 facts about the People of the UK
Great Britain is the name of the largest island. It includes England, Scotland and Wales.
-
There are 63, 742,000 people living in the UK.
-
The UK has the 23rd largest population in the world.
-
People from the UK can vote once they reach 18 years of age.
-
Life expectancy at birth is 77 years for males and 82 years for females.
-
80% of people live in towns and cities and 20% live in the country.
-
The average family has 1.9 children.
-
The average age a mother has her first child is 30 years old.
-
The rate of obesity in the UK is high. 27% of people are obese.
-
Everyone in the UK has access to clean drinking water.
-
There are a lot of old people in the UK with 1 in 6 being over the age of 65.
UK time
The UK is in the Greenwich Meridian timezone (GMT) which is also called the Coordinated Universal Timezone (UTC). The UK does have daylight savings time.
Places that are in the same time zone as the UK include:
Portugal, Morocco, Ghana, Gambia, Senegal and the Ivory Coast.
Facts about the transport of the UK
-
London has the world's busiest airport system when all the airports that serve London are combined. Every year, 134 million people land or take off from a London airport.
-
The UK has 460 airports and 9 heliports.
-
There are 16,400 km of railways in the UK. This is the 17th largest network in the world.
-
The largest port in the UK is Felixstowe.
-
The UK has 394,000 km of roads – that would take you around the world almost ten times.
Rail usage has been growing steadily in the UK for many years.
Facts about the economy of the UK
-
The UK has the world's 6th largest economy.
-
The UK economy is the world's second biggest earner of services and income revenue. Money received from being invested overseas.
-
The UK has the world's 14th largest national debt.
-
The trade deficit in the UK is the 7th largest in the world.
-
Exports play a large part of the economy. The UK economy is the world's 5th biggest exporter.
The UK earns lots of money from the money that it has invested overseas.
What do the facts tell us about the people of the UK?
They might work in expensive offices
They win a lot of nobel prizes
They fly a lot
They go on holiday a lot
they buy a lot of arms
they give a lot to charity
they own a lot of shares
they own a lot of music
They go to the cinema a lot
They receive a lot of guests
Most expensive office rents in the world are in Mayfair, London.
2nd largest recipient of Nobel prizes in the world.
3rd largest air market in the world.
3rd largest tourism spending in the world.
3rd largest defence budget in the world.
4th largest aid donor in the world.
4th largest stock market capitalisation in the world.
4th largest music industry in the world.
4th largest cinema industry in the world.
6th biggest tourist arrivals in the world.
Here we look at the UK using facts and figures to help us understand the country that is the United Kingdom. These facts about the UK help illustrate the similarities and differences between the UK and the rest of the world. Some of these facts about the UK will surprise you and some of these facts about the UK will confirm all your preconceived ideas but we hope you find these an interesting read.
UK FACTS
