The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the

United Kingdom (UK or U.K.)[14] or Britain,[note 11] is a sovereign country located

off the north�western coast of the European mainland. The United Kingdom includes
the island of Great Britain, the north�eastern part of the island of Ireland, and
many smaller islands.[15] Northern Ireland shares a land border with the Republic
of Ireland. Otherwise, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with
the North Sea to the east, the English Channel to the south and the Celtic Sea to
the southwest, giving it the 12th-longest coastline in the world. The Irish Sea
separates Great Britain and Ireland. The total area of the United Kingdom is 94,000
square miles (240,000 km2).

The United Kingdom is a unitary parliamentary democracy and constitutional

monarchy.[note 12][16][17] The current monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has
reigned since 1952, making her the world's longest-serving current head of state.
[18] The United Kingdom's capital is London, a global city and financial centre
with an urban area population of 10.3 million.[19] Other major cities include
Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, and Manchester.

The United Kingdom consists of four constituent countries: England, Scotland, Wales
and Northern Ireland.[20] Their capitals are London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and
Belfast, respectively. Apart from England, the countries have their own devolved
governments,[21] each with varying powers,[22][23] but such power is delegated by
the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which may enact laws unilaterally altering or
abolishing devolution. The nearby Isle of Man, Bailiwick of Guernsey and Bailiwick
of Jersey are not part of the UK, being Crown dependencies with the British
Government responsible for defence and international representation.[24] The
medieval conquest and subsequent annexation of Wales by the Kingdom of England,
followed by the union between England and Scotland in 1707 to form the Kingdom of
Great Britain, and the union in 1801 of Great Britain with the Kingdom of Ireland
created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland
seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The UK's current name was adopted in 1927 to
reflect the change.[note 13] There are fourteen British Overseas Territories,[25]
the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, encompassed
almost a quarter of the world's landmass and was the largest empire in history.
British influence can be observed in the language, culture and political systems of
many of its former colonies.[26][27][28][29][30]

The United Kingdom has the world's sixth-largest economy by nominal gross domestic
product (GDP), and the ninth-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). It has a
high-income economy and a very high human development index rating, ranking 14th in
the world. It was the world's first industrialised country and the world's foremost
power during the 19th and early 20th centuries.[31][32] The UK remains a great
power, with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political
influence internationally.[33][34] It is a recognised nuclear weapons state and is
sixth in military expenditure in the world.[35] It has been a permanent member of
the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946.

The United Kingdom is a leading member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the Council
of Europe, the G7, the G20, NATO, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD), Interpol and the World Trade Organization (WTO). It was a
member of the European Union (EU) and its predecessor, the European Economic
Community (EEC) for 47 years, between 1 January 1973 and withdrawal on 31 January
2020.