The size and reproduction of the UK population. Great Britain: population and economy

The population of the UK is over 63 million people.
The British Isles were constantly invaded by continental Europe. Romans, Saxons, Danes, Normans and others occupied the lowlands of Britain, driving the indigenous population north and west into the highlands of the country. Thus, the British Isles were divided into lowland (Anglo-Saxon) and mountainous (Celtic) zones. Thanks to this division, the inhabitants of Cornwall, Wales, Ireland and Scotland still use various dialects of the Celtic language in their speech.
The national composition of Great Britain is represented by:

the British (81.5%);
Scots (9.6%);
Irish (2.4%);
Welsh (1.9%);
other nations (4.6%).

On average, 245 people live per 1 km2, but the most densely populated are the southeastern and central parts of England, the central part of Wales, and the northern regions of Scotland.
The official language is English, but Scottish and 2 Celtic languages (Welsh, Gaelic) are widely spoken.
Major cities: London, Edinburgh, Leeds, Sheffield, Glasgow, Liverpool, Bristol.
Most residents of the UK profess Protestantism, but here you can meet Catholics, Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims.

Lifespan

Men on average live up to 76 years, and women - up to 81 years.
The British live 2 years less than the Swiss, Japanese and Italians. The UK spends only 9.7% of its annual GDP (approximately $3,700) on healthcare. But such an amount cannot be called sufficient expenses, because the cost of living in the UK is very high.
Residents of the UK suffer from cardiovascular diseases, malignant tumors, obesity (26.1% of the population: this figure is 17% higher than the European average).

Traditions and customs of the inhabitants of Great Britain

The British are proud of their significant difference from the representatives of other nations of the world: they still strictly observe such traditions as playing cricket and driving on the left.
The British can be called a cold-blooded people - they never show their feelings (approval, as a rule, they express the phrase: “not bad”). But, nevertheless, the British are sociable and have a good sense of humor.
An interesting British tradition is dressing up for dinner; participating in ugly face competitions and rolling cheese races…
Interesting traditions and customs are related to festivals, for example, the most popular takes place in Chelsea (May), and the most solemn and grandiose holiday of the country is the Queen's Birthday.
Arriving in the UK, you can understand why it is called the country of traditions. So, you will have the opportunity to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, the ceremony of keys (the ritual of closing the Tower), royal gun salutes (they are made on special occasions) ...

Fogs, as the main weather conditions, the obligatory "five o" clock, adherence to traditions, strictness of norms, oatmeal and special English humor. What else distinguishes strict England, whose population makes up the bulk of all the inhabitants of Foggy Albion?

England as part of Great Britain

England, Britain, Great Britain - this is a frequent name for one great power - the United Kingdom of Great Britain, which also includes the northern part of Ireland. The most significant part of this country is England. Its population and territory make up almost a third of the total population and territory of the Kingdom.

Britain is a name that has dominated much earlier than the others. This was the name of the land of the Britons, the Celtic tribes who inhabited the island before our era. After the conquest of these lands by the Romans, the Britons gradually completely replaced the Angles and Saxons. Britain became England, that is, "the land of the Angles." Historically, the coming Angles became the main group of the population of Great Britain, pushing the indigenous aborigines to a small part of Wales.

Another important group of the Celtic tribes of Albion are the Scots, among whom the minor groups of Gaels stand out clearly. The Gauls are a small ethnic group of the mountain people of the Celts, who retain their ancient language and traditions.

UK in numbers

According to 2015 data, about 64 million people lived in the UK. Of these, the population of England is 84%, Scotland - 8.3%, Wales - 4.8%, Ireland - 3%.

The British lead in the statistics of ethnic composition. Their number is 76%, the remaining 24% are represented by Scots (less than 6%), Irish (about 2%), Welsh (3.1%). Other peoples who consider Britain their home are migrants.

As a result of moving, the population of England began to increase significantly in the 19th century, when the country had many more colonies. Now Poles, Jews, Indians, Pakistanis, Arabs, Chinese, immigrants from the former USSR live with the British.

The urban and rural population is represented in the ratio of 93% to 7%. Age of people living in the country:

children under 14 - 19%:
elderly people, over 65 - 16%;
the rest of the population is youth and able-bodied citizens from 15 to 64 years old.

Religion

The main state religion of Great Britain is the Anglican Church. Its parishioners are 27 million people (Wales and England). The population of Scotland tends more towards the Presbyterian religion. Insignificant groups of believers are Catholics, Muslims, Methodists, Jews, Sikhs, Hindus.

Language

English is the only official language in all regions of the United Kingdom, but the dialects spoken in some areas are so different that their owners do not always understand each other.

The closest to the normative language is considered to be the spoken language of the inhabitants of the south-eastern part of England. The territory of Wales is considered bilingual, as a significant part of its population communicates in the Welsh dialect. The mountain peoples of Scotland have preserved the ancient Celtic language in their culture, but at the moment only 60 thousand people can speak it.

Citizens and villagers

On average, there are about a thousand cities and towns in the UK. They are where most of the British live. Separating urban and rural populations is difficult, as the typical English village is a suburb. Citizens call themselves in England the inhabitants of the central regions of large cities. A large concentration of people in megacities is forcing the authorities to encourage the mass relocation of their residents to these suburbs, closer to nature.

Citizens of the UK for the most part live in private homes. There are city blocks of apartment buildings, but they do not correspond at all to our usual idea of urban housing. These apartments are small and uncomfortable. Most often, migrants, students, and temporary settlers settle in them. Family Englishmen prefer even a small, but separate house. These houses are located very close to each other, have a small courtyard and a small garden. The most common hobby of the British is to dig in the ground and grow something there.

If we consider the social foundations of the British in numbers, then 93% of all British residents consider themselves to be middle class workers and employees. These are the so-called average Englishmen. The term worker refers to hired workers of various qualifications. In terms of living standards, they are on an equal footing with the local intelligentsia, office workers, clerks, teachers, and doctors. Unskilled manual labor is increasingly given to visiting workers from other countries.

A small English nobility (2% of the population) in their small circle concentrates half of the national wealth of the state.

Free labor, small business and farming in this region are not very popular. In England it is much more profitable to get a good specialty and work as an employee in any large enterprise than to run your own business. Owners of small workshops, cafes, restaurants and other small establishments, together with farmers, fit into 5% of the population.

There are the poor and the homeless here. There are few of them - basically, this category includes people who have lost their jobs for a long time or migrants who are not lucky enough to get a job.

Such, in a nutshell, is England, whose people were known as strict, prim and cold. In fact, most of the English are quite friendly and friendly people, they are just very well-mannered and sacredly honor their age-old traditions, many of which we do not understand.

The article contains information on the UK population. Forms an idea of the ethnic composition of the country. The material contains data on the population density of England.

Ethnic composition of the UK population

In terms of ethnic composition, the population of Great Britain is less homogeneous than in any other state in Europe. This is explained by the fact that in the early period of the history of the state, the process of development of three distinct ethnic communities was observed on the skeletons:

the English;
the Scots;
Welsh.

The development of these communities took place in three historically formed insular areas:

England;
Scotland;
Wales.

However, this criterion has changed dramatically over the past half century. The composition of the country's population has become more diverse and geographically integrated.

Rice. 1. England on the map.

The predominant nationality in the UK is English. Their number exceeds 45 million people. They inhabit England, a significant part of Wales, and the south of Scotland. Of the Celtic peoples, the Scots are the most numerous. Their number exceeds 5 million people.

UK population density

According to statistics from the UN Department of Statistics, the total area of England is 243,610 km2. sq. square.

Population density is calculated as the ratio of the total population to the total territorial area. According to recent calculations, the population of the UK is almost 65,746,853 people.

From this it follows that the population density of the country is 269.9 people per square kilometer. km.

If we take into account such an indicator as the population of Great Britain, it becomes clear that the central and southeastern regions are more densely populated. The northern regions of Scotland and the central region of Wales are not so densely populated.

Rice. 3. Diagram of the population density of the country.

Today Great Britain is the most populated country in Western Europe. It overtook France, Germany, Spain in terms of population.

England is characterized by a significant level of urbanization of the population. Over 89% of Britons live in cities. Half of this number live in metropolitan areas. The average population density per square kilometer is approximately 245 people.

The ethnic composition of the population of Great Britain is rather motley. From the earliest periods of the history of the British Isles, there has been a process of formation of three different ethnic communities - the English, the Scots and the Welsh, or Welsh, who occupied three historically isolated areas of the island

Great Britain - actually England, Scotland and Wales. The relationship between these three indigenous peoples of the island and the ethnic processes that took place among them have always occupied an important place in the political history of the country. The national question has not yet been resolved even today.

The dominant and most numerous group of the population of Great Britain is the British. They inhabit England, most of Wales and form compact settlements in some areas in the south of Scotland. English is part of the northwestern group of Germanic languages. It is widely distributed outside the state of Great Britain. English is also spoken by the majority of the country's Celtic origin - the Scots and Welsh.

Of the Celtic peoples of Great Britain, the Scots are the most numerous. They inhabit mainly the northwestern regions of the island of Great Britain and the Shetland, Orcaney and Hebrides islands adjacent to their coast. There was also a special national Scottish language, the basis for which was one of the northern dialects of the Anglo-Saxon language. Many words from the Gallic that it displaced entered the Scots language, in addition, it was affected by the influence of the Scandinavian languages. In terms of vocabulary and phonetics, the national Scottish language differs significantly from literary English.

Due to the geographical and economic isolation among the Scots, a peculiar ethnic group living in the mountains of the northwestern part of the island still retains its identity and many specific ethnic features. Their self-name is the Gauls, while the British often call them Highlanders (highlanders). The Gauls retain their ancient Celtic (Gallic) language. It is spoken by 1.4% of the total population of the country. But every year the number of those who know the Gaulish language is steadily decreasing, the vast majority of the Gauls have already completely switched to English.

Although both of the old national languages are almost lost to the Scots, the national consciousness among them is very strong. Scotland has retained its legal system, which is based on Roman law and not on the body of precedent as in England. Remained in Scotland and its own education system: Scottish universities study for 4 years, and in English - 3. The administrative and cultural center of Scotland is Edinburgh, and its industrial heart is Glasgow. There is a Scottish National Party in the country, which is fighting for independence within the European Community and the need for its own parliament in Edinburgh. Although the Scottish pound is the exact equivalent of the English pound, it is not formally in circulation in England and Wales, but is readily accepted there. The national clothes of the Scots are skirts called "kilts", the national instrument is the bagpipe. But in such clothes they appear only on holidays. The national symbol is the thistle.

The national struggle does not stop among the other Celtic people of Great Britain - the Welsh, or Welsh, whose number is only 1.5 million people. Their historical fate, ethnic development were different from those of the Scots. Wales was conquered early by the English, and its population was more assimilated than the Scots. A significant part of the ruling classes in Wales - the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie - were of English origin, so there the national struggle was often closely intertwined with the class struggle.

Despite the forced assimilation of the Welsh that has been going on for many centuries, they still retain a clear national identity, partly their own language (although most of the Welsh who know it are bilingual) and some features of the national culture.

Today, all inscriptions in Wales are in Welsh, it is taught in schools, and by law, records management in state public institutions must be conducted in two languages. Teachers, social workers should know Welsh. Welsh radio and television is doing a lot to ensure that the native language is sure to be passed on to the next generation. For a long time, the national symbol of Wales was the wheatgrass, only recently superseded by the more aesthetic daffodil.

Continues to unfold among the Welsh and the national movement. Established in 1925, the Welsh nationalist party PlaidCamry advocates self-government for Wales. Participants in the movement of cultural nationalism seek to prevent the disappearance of the Welsh language, to preserve their original culture.

For many years, a fierce struggle has also been waged in the inner colony of Great Britain - Northern Ireland, annexed to the British state in 1922, when the rest of Ireland achieved independence. The United Kingdom then included six of the nine counties of the Irish province of Ulster. The ethnic composition of the population of this area is heterogeneous: about 500 thousand indigenous inhabitants of the island live here - Catholic Irish and about 1 million Anglo-Irish and Scot-Irish. Most are Protestant, culturally and traditionally British, committed to maintaining constitutional ties to the British crown. The rest of the population - just over a third - is Catholic, Irish in culture and history, and generally favors union with the Republic of Ireland.

Thus, in Ulster historically there were three groups of the population that differed from each other in religion and culture and were wary, and sometimes hostile, towards each other. The eastern regions of Northern Ireland were occupied by settlers from Scotland - the Presbyterians, the central and northern provinces were settled by the British, who belonged to the Anglican Church, in the extreme western and border regions with Ireland lived the remnants of the indigenous population - the Irish, Catholics by religion. The ruling circles of England, following their usual principle of "divide and rule", encouraged and deepened the split between these groups in every possible way.

Over time, there was a rapprochement between the English and Scottish settlers on the basis of common interests, and at present they are already acting against the native Catholic Irish as a united front.

Power in Northern Ireland is concentrated in the hands of this Protestant majority, and Catholic Irish are discriminated against in various areas, deprived of many social and civil rights. English bourgeois propaganda tends to present the struggle of the native Irish in Northern Ireland for equal civil rights, against discrimination, which became especially aggravated in the 1970s, as a simple religious conflict between Catholics and Protestants. In fact, the causes of the struggle in Northern Ireland are a complex knot of national, socio-economic and religious contradictions, the roots of which go far back into the depths of centuries.

Given the stability of the death rate, the decrease in the birth rate led to a decrease in the natural increase in the population. Since the natural increase in the population of Great Britain has remained low throughout the period since the end of the 19th century, the rate of population growth has largely depended on outward migration.

Increased immigration to the UK from Ireland. The adaptation of Irish immigrants to the new environment was very slow. And now they still retain their isolation and some estrangement in relations with the British.

A fairly large group (about 500,000 people) in Great Britain are Jews who live mainly in London and other large cities. The bulk of the Jews arrived in the British Isles in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. from Eastern Europe, later - in 1930-1940 - a significant part of them emigrated from Germany and the countries occupied by it.

After the Second World War, in connection with large-scale restoration work and the development of industry, the influx of workers from European countries into England increased. Now about 1 million immigrants from various European countries (not counting the Irish) live in the UK.

The growth in the number of immigrants from the former English colonies gave rise to the question of race relations in the British Isles. The British government, in special acts, has attempted to restrict immigration from its former colonies. The growth of racial discrimination, the increase in the number of conflicts on a racial basis led to the fact that from 1962 to 1971 a number of special laws on race relations were adopted.

In the 1970s, due to immigration restrictions and economic difficulties in the UK itself, emigration began to exceed immigration. Most of them go to Australia, Canada and New Zealand, somewhat less - to the USA and the capitalist countries of Europe. Mostly specialists emigrate, there is a so-called brain drain.

Since the beginning of the twentieth century. The life expectancy of the British population is gradually increasing: the average life expectancy is 69 years for men and 75 years for women. In connection with a decrease in the birth rate and an increase in life expectancy, the process of "aging" of the population of Great Britain is taking place, which sharply reduces the labor force reserves.

Social composition

The most numerous class of English society is the workers.

Most of the English trade unions from the very beginning were organized along professional lines (printers, builders, metalworkers, etc.), many of them accepted only skilled workers. The largest trade union association in Great Britain is the British Congress of Trade Unions. It unites 112 trade unions (11.9 million people).

The social composition of the population of modern England is also characterized by a rather high percentage of the middle strata, including employees of various categories. These are the notorious "average Englishmen" about whom the English press writes so much, often calling them "white-collar workers". Among them, a large army of clerks stands out especially - clerical workers in industrial, financial and commercial enterprises.

Quite motley for European states. From the earliest periods of history on the British Isles, there was a process of formation of three different ethnic communities - the English, the Scots and the Welsh, or Welsh, who occupied three historically separate areas of the island - England proper, and Wales. The relationship between these three indigenous peoples of the island and the ethnic processes that took place among them have always occupied an important place in the political history of the country. The national question, it should be noted, has not been finally resolved even today.

The dominant and most numerous nation of Great Britain is the British, whose number exceeds 45 million people. They inhabit England proper, most of Wales, and a little south of Scotland. Of the Celtic peoples of Great Britain, the most numerous are the Scots, whose number exceeds 5 million people. They inhabit mainly the northwestern regions of the island and Shetland, Orkney and the Hebrides. Due to geographical and economic isolation among the Scots, a peculiar ethnic group living in the mountains of the northwestern part of the island still retains its identity. Their self-name is Gaels, while the British often call them Highlanders (Highlanders), in contrast to the inhabitants of the south of Scotland - Lowlanders. The Gaels retained their ancient Celtic language. It is now spoken by about 1% of the country's population. But their number is constantly decreasing.

Northern Ireland was annexed to the British state in 1922 when the rest achieved independence. The United Kingdom then included 6 counties from 9 of the Irish province of Ulster. The ethnic composition of the population of this area is heterogeneous: about 500 thousand Irish Catholics and about 1 million Anglo-Irish and Scot-Irish live here. Such a composition of the population developed here in the 17-18 centuries during the period of intensive colonization of Ireland. Unlike the rest of Ireland, where lands were distributed to large English owners - landlords, in Ulster lands were allocated to small and medium-sized tenants - the English and Scots from the south of Scotland. Until now, the Irish Republican Army (terrorist organization) exists in Ulster.

At the turn of the 20th century, a little over 38 million people lived on the territory of modern Great Britain, and now, according to various sources, from 56.9 to 57.4 million people.

Since the 1920s, the death rate has remained at about the same level, while the birth rate has been falling. With the stability of the death rate led to a decrease in the population. If at the beginning of the 20th century it reached 500 thousand people per year, then by the end of the 70s it fell to 1 thousand people per year. Now the natural increase of the population is negative.

Since natural population growth has been low since the 20th century, the rate of population growth has largely depended on external factors.

From the beginning of the 20th century until 1931, intensive migration of residents to the "white" dominions of Great Britain - and the Union of South Africa continued. But in 1931, the dominions were granted independence, and many British returned.

There are many Irish people in the country; Irish immigrants began arriving in the country as early as the 17th and 19th centuries. Currently, there are about 1 million Irish people in the country.

A fairly large group (about 500 thousand people) in the UK are those living mainly in London and other large cities.

After World War II, in connection with large-scale restoration work, the influx of workers from England increased. Now there are about 1 million immigrants from (not counting the Irish) living in the UK, and the total number of foreign citizens in the UK is over 3 million people. In addition, 40-50 thousand temporary workers arrive in the country annually from European countries (most of all from).

The able-bodied population of the UK is just over 40%, so the problem of the rational use of the able-bodied population is acute in the country. Both spontaneous and organized redistribution is constantly taking place between individual districts.

In terms of social composition, the UK population is relatively homogeneous:

2% - big bourgeoisie;
5% - small owners - farmers and freelancers;
93% - workers and employees.

The social composition of modern England is characterized by a rather high percentage of the middle strata, the so-called "middle English".

The UK is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. On average, there are 230 people per 1 km2. However, the distribution of the population across the country is very uneven. The main part of the inhabitants of Great Britain is concentrated in England. Here the average density increases to 356 persons/km2. Within England itself, the main industrial belt of the country along the London-Liverpool axis is most densely populated; half of the total population lives in this zone.

The most sparsely populated areas are in Scotland - 86 people / km2, and the population is concentrated mainly on the coasts, in the valleys and lowlands.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, there has been an intensive migration of rural residents to cities, where more than 88% of the country's population lives. It is difficult to draw a line between urban and rural settlements. Many villages have become "bedrooms" of nearby towns.

There are about a thousand cities in the UK. Half of the country's urban population is concentrated in seven conurbations. One of them, Central Clydeside (1.7 million people) is located in Scotland, and the rest are in England. This is:

Tyneside - 0.8 million;
West Midlands - 2.4 million;
South East Lancashire - 2.3 million;
West Yorkshire - 1.7 million;
Merseyside - 1.3 million;
Greater London - 7 million

In the "hierarchy" of British cities, London occupies the main position as the capital, the main political and cultural center of the country.

In addition to London, many "capital" functions are performed by 10 more cities in the UK: Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast - as the capitals of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland respectively; Glasgow, Newcastle, Leeds, Bradford, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Sheffield as conurbation centers and regional centres. In addition, over 150 cities, in terms of the number of inhabitants and the role they play in the life of nearby territories, are higher than the main mass of cities. These cities are called "city", all the rest are "town".

In the UK, there are mainly two types of rural settlements. In the low-lying eastern part of England, the population lives predominantly in villages. In the west, where animal husbandry is mainly developed, farms and individual farms predominate.

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