In the 2021 census in Northern Ireland 12.4 per cent of people had some Irish language ability and 10.4 per cent had some facility in the Ulster-Scots language. In the 2021 census the Welsh-speaking population of Wales aged three or older was 538,300 (17.8 per cent). In 2021, 46.2 per cent of London’s population was from a non-white ethnic minority, compared less than 10 per cent in the South West and North East of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The number of transgender people in the UK was estimated to be between 65,000 and 300,000 by research between 2001 and 2008. London’s wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 14.9 million in 2024. England is one of the most-densely-populated countries in the world, with 434 people per square kilometre in mid-2021, https://au.trustpilot.com/review/bestpayingcasinos.org with a particular concentration in London and the south-east.

Elections

Amongst the devolved parliaments across the United Kingdom, the Scottish Parliament has the most extensive responsibilities for devolved powers, and has been described as “one of the most powerful devolved parliaments in the world”. These powers vary and have been moved to the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government, the Northern Ireland Executive and in England, the Greater London Authority and Combined Authorities. The cities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee are separate council areas, as is the Highland Council, which includes a third of Scotland’s area but only just over 200,000 people.

Acts from Liverpool have had 54 UK chart number 1 hit singles, more per capita than any other city worldwide. More recent UK music acts that have had international success include George Michael, Oasis, Spice Girls, Radiohead, Coldplay, Arctic Monkeys, Robbie Williams, Amy Winehouse, Susan Boyle, Adele, Ed Sheeran, Lewis Capaldi, One Direction, Harry Styles and Dua Lipa. The Beatles have international sales of over 1 billion units and are the biggest-selling band, in addition to being widely regarded as the most influential band in the history of popular music. The UK has produced some of the most prominent English-speaking rappers along with the United States, including Stormzy, Kano, Yxng Bane, Ramz, Little Simz and Skepta. Historically, there has been Renaissance music from the Tudor period, with masses, madrigals and lute music by Thomas Tallis, John Taverner, William Byrd, Orlando Gibbons and John Dowland. English folk features melodic ballads with strong lyrics and music for country dancing often using accordion and fiddles.

Theatre of United Kingdom plays an important part in British culture and has had a vibrant tradition of theatre since the Renaissance with roots going back to the Roman occupation. A global survey in 2024 ranked the UK third in the ‘Most Influential Countries’ rankings, behind the US and China. British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies, in particular the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Ireland, a common culture known as the Anglosphere.

• The geographical division of the United Kingdom into counties or shires began in England and Scotland in the early Middle Ages, and was completed throughout Great Britain and Ireland by the early modern period.
• UK labour laws establish employment rights including a minimum wage, a minimum of 28 days annual holiday, parental leave, statutory sick pay and a pension.
• Despite having one of the highest levels of income inequality in the OECD, the UK has a very high HDI ranking, including when adjusted for inequality.
• About 38 per cent of the United Kingdom population has a university or college degree, the highest percentage in Europe and one of the highest in the world.
• Nevertheless, the Supreme Court recognises a number of principles underlying the British constitution, such as parliamentary sovereignty, the rule of law, democracy and upholding international law.

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Healthcare in the United Kingdom is a devolved matter and each country has its own system of universal publicly funded healthcare (NHS England, NHS Scotland, Health and Social Care (Northern Ireland) and NHS Wales), although private healthcare is also available. The modern system of universal publicly funded healthcare in the United Kingdom has its origins in the creation of the National Health Service (NHS) in 1949 is the primary healthcare provider in the United Kingdom. About 38 per cent of the United Kingdom population has a university or college degree, the highest percentage in Europe and one of the highest in the world. Education in the United Kingdom is a devolved matter, with each country having a separate education system.

The UK remained a great power with global diplomatic and military influence and a leading role in the United Nations and NATO. The Grand Alliance of Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union formed in 1941, leading the Allies against the Axis powers. By the end of the region’s prehistoric period, the population is thought to have belonged largely to a culture termed Insular Celtic, comprising Brittonic Britain and Gaelic Ireland.

The BBC World Service is an international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, and the world’s largest. It operates television and radio stations across the UK and abroad and its domestic services are funded by the television licence. The most famous philosophers of British Empiricism are John Locke, George Berkeleyv and David Hume; while Dugald Stewart, Thomas Reid and William Hamilton were major exponents of the Scottish “common sense” school. The United Kingdom is famous for “British Empiricism”, a branch of the philosophy that states that only knowledge verified by experience is valid, and ‘Scottish Philosophy’, sometimes referred to as the ‘Scottish School of Common Sense’.

They are active and regular participants in NATO (including the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps), the Five Power Defence Arrangements, RIMPAC and other worldwide coalition operations. Britain’s global presence and influence is further amplified through its trading relations, foreign investments, official development assistance and military engagements. It maintains the British Council, an organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities in over 100 countries. Local government in Northern Ireland since 2015 has been divided between 11 councils with limited responsibilities. It established power sharing arrangements for a devolved government and legislature, referred to as the Northern Ireland Executive and the Northern Ireland Assembly respectively.

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During this time Canada, Australia and New Zealand were granted self-governing dominion status. The British population increased at a dramatic rate, accompanied by rapid urbanisation, causing significant social and economic stresses. Throughout the Victorian era (1837–1901) political attitudes favoured free trade and laissez-faire policies. British merchants played a leading part in the Atlantic slave trade, mainly between 1662 and 1807 when British or British-colonial slave ships transported nearly 3.3 million slaves from Africa.