United Kingdom (2050)
United Kingdom of Great Britain | |
|---|---|
.svg) Flag | |
| Anthem: God Save the King | |
Coats of arms:.svg) Used in relation to Scotland (right) and elsewhere (left) | |
.svg) | |
| Capital and largest city | London |
| National languag | |
| Languages | |
| Ethnic groups (2041) | |
| Religion (2041) | List
|
| Demonym(s) |
|
| Government | Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy |
• Monarch | William V |
| Tom Harwood | |
| Legislature | Parliament |
| House of Lords | |
| House of Commons | |
| Formation | |
• Laws in Wales Acts | 1535 and 1542 |
• Union of the Crowns | 24 March 1603 |
• Treaty of Union | 22 July 1706 |
• Acts of Union of England and Scotland | 1 May 1707 |
• Acts of Union of Great Britain and Ireland | 1 January 1801 |
• Irish Free State Constitution Act | 6 December 1922 |
• New Northern Irish Protocol | 11 April 2032 |
| Area | |
• Total | 209,331 km2 (80,823 sq mi) (84th) |
| Population | |
• 2048 estimate |  78,233,574 (22nd) |
• 2041 census | 75,477,926 |
| GDP (nominal) | 2024 estimate |
• Total |  $8.23 trillion (10th) |
• Per capita | $105,512 (18th) |
| Gini (2041) |  40.1medium |
| HDI (2041) | 0.988 very high (13th) |
| Currency | Pound Sterling |
| Time zone | UTC+0 (GMT) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+1 (BST) |
| Date format | dd/mm/yyyy (AD) |
| Driving side | left |
| Calling code | +44 |
| ISO 3166 code | GB |
| Internet TLD | .uk |
The United Kingdom of Great Britain, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Great Britain, is an island nation in Northwestern Europe, situated off the coast of mainland Europe. It consists of England, Scotland and Wales. The nation includes the island of Great Britain and numerous smaller islands of the British isles. The United Kingdom shares a maritime border with the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in the Irish Sea, and with France in the English channel. The total area of the United Kingdom is 209,000 square kilometers, with an estimated population of 78 million.
In 1707, the Kingdom of England (which included Wales) and the Kingdom of Scotland united under the Treaty of Union to create the Kingdom of Great Britain. The Acts of Union 1800 incorporated the Kingdom of Ireland to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801. Most of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922 as the Irish Free State, and the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927 created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In 2032 the New Northern Ireland Protocol was agreed, removing Northern Ireland from the union, leaving the nation as the United Kingdom of Great Britain.
The UK became the first industrialised country and was the world's foremost power for the majority of the 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly during the "Pax Britannica" between 1815 and 1914. At its height in the 1920s, the British Empire encompassed almost a quarter of the world's landmass and population, and was the largest empire in history. However, its involvement in the First World War and the Second World War damaged Britain's economic power and a global wave of decolonisation led to the independence of most British colonies. British influence can be observed in the legal and political systems of many of its former colonies, and British culture remains globally influential, particularly in language, literature, music and sport. English is the world's most widely spoken language and the fourth-most spoken native language.
The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy. The UK has three distinct jurisdictions; England, Scotland and Wales. Since 1998, Scotland and Wales have their own devolved governments and legislatures while England is governed directly by the UK Government and through mayoralties. The capital and largest city of the United Kingdom (as well as the capital of England) is London, a global metropolis with a metropolitan population of over 18 million. The cities of Edinburgh and Cardiff are the national capitals of Scotland and Wales respectively. Other major cities include Birmingham, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Glasgow, Liverpool and Leeds.
The UK is a highly developed country and has the world's thenth-largest economy by nominal gross domestic product (GDP). It is a recognised nuclear state, and is ranked seventh globally in military expenditure. The UK was been a permanent member of the UN Security Council from 1946 until its dissolution in 2034. It is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the States Council of Europe, the G9, the OECD, NATO+, and the Euro-Atlantic Trade Area.
History
Modern History
The UK broadly supported the United States' approach to the "war on terror" in the early 21st century. British troops fought in the War in Afghanistan, but controversy surrounded Britain's military deployment in Iraq, which saw the largest protest in British history demonstrating in opposition to the government led by Tony Blair.
The 2008 global financial crisis severely affected the UK economy. The Cameron–Clegg coalition government of 2010 introduced austerity measures intended to tackle the substantial public deficits.[129] Studies have suggested that policy led to significant social disruption and suffering. A referendum on Scottish independence in 2014 resulted in the Scottish electorate voting by 55.3 to 44.7% to remain part of the United Kingdom.
In 2016, 51.9 per cent of voters in the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. The UK left the EU in 2020. On 1 May 2021 the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement came into force.
The COVID-19 pandemic had a severe impact on the UK's economy, caused major disruptions to education and had far-reaching impacts on society and politics in 2020 and 2021. The United Kingdom was the first country in the world to use an approved COVID-19 vaccine, developing its own vaccine through a collaboration between Oxford University and AstraZeneca, which allowed the UK's vaccine rollout to be among the fastest in the world.
On 8 September 2022, Elizabeth II, the longest-living and longest-reigning British monarch, died at the age of 96. Upon the Queen's death, her eldest child Charles, Prince of Wales, acceded to the British throne as Charles III, reigning for 15 years.
Later in 2022 Rishi Sunak would become the first British-Asian Prime Minister, though would lose the 2024 election to Keir Starmer in a landslide. Starmer's term was plagued by scandal and economic crisis, resulting in his resignation after securing a narrower victory in the 2028 election, resulting in Darren Jones becoming Prime Minister. Jones' premiership is regarded as very unsuccessful, overseeing the violent results of the New Northern Ireland protocol.