United Kingdom

Facts about the United Kingdom's Flag:

The United Kingdom's flag consists of the blue field with the red cross of Saint George edged in white superimposed on the diagonal red cross of Saint Patrick which is superimposed on the diagonal white cross of Saint Andrew.  The design and colors have been basis for a number of other flags including other Commonwealth countries and their constituent states of provences, as well as British overseas territories.

Facts about the United Kingdom:

The UK, a leading trading power and financial center, is one of the quartet of trillion dollar economies of Western Europe. Over the past two decades the government has greatly reduced public ownership and contained the growth of social welfare programs. Agriculture is intensive, highly mechanized, and efficient by European standards, producing about 60% of food needs with only 1% of the labor force. The UK has large coal, natural gas, and oil reserves; primary energy production accounts for 10% of GDP, one of the highest shares of any industrial nation.

English is the official language. A substantial number of people in Wales speak Welsh as their sole language. A few families in Northern Ireland still speak the Irish form of Gaelic. Some of the country's ethnic minorities speak English or their own languages. Among the Asian community, the most usual languages used are Punjabi, Gujarati, Bengali or Urdu.

The English are a predominant ethnic group, constituting the majority of the population. Scots, Irish and Welsh also make up significant proportions. Since the early 1850s, a rapidly growing percentage of the country's population consisted of Commonwealth immigrants, particularly from India, the West Indies, Pakistan and Bangladesh. As of 1998 estimates, the total population of UK has reached 57,591,677, making it the 18th largest country in the world. UK has an ageing population. In 1998, about one person in six was aged 65 and over.

United Kingdom constitutes the greater part of the British Isles, a group of islands lying off the North-west coast of mainland Europe. It encompasses Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Great Britain refers to the union of England, Scotland and Wales. Its total land area is 244,111 sq. km. (94,252 sq. mi.).