zone Layer Protection,
Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands,
Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic
Pollutants, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol

Geography--note: lies near vital North Atlantic sea lanes; only 35
km from France and now linked by tunnel under the English Channel;
because of heavily indented coastline, no location is more than 125
km from tidal waters

People

Population: 59,113,439 (July 1999 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 19% (male 5,822,901; female 5,522,122)
15-64 years: 65% (male 19,393,706; female 19,103,882)
65 years and over: 16% (male 3,821,181; female 5,449,647) (1999 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.24% (1999 est.)

Birth rate: 11.9 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Death rate: 10.64 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Net migration rate: 1.11 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.7 male(s)/female
total population: 0.97 male(s)/female (1999 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 5.78 deaths/1,000 live births (1999 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 77.37 years
male: 74.73 years
female: 80.15 years (1999 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.71 children born/woman (1999 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Briton(s), British (collective plural)
adjective: British

Ethnic groups: English 81.5%, Scottish 9.6%, Irish 2.4%, Welsh
1.9%, Ulster 1.8%, West Indian, Indian, Pakistani, and other 2.8%

Religions: Anglican 27 million, Roman Catholic 9 million, Muslim
1 million, Presbyterian 800,000, Methodist 760,000, Sikh 400,000,
Hindu 350,000, Jewish 300,000 (1991 est.)

Languages: English, Welsh (about 26% of the population of Wales),
Scottish form of Gaelic (about 60,000 in Scotland)

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over has completed five or more years of
schooling
total population: 99% (1978 est.)
male: NA%
female: NA%

Government

Country name:
conventional long form: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland
conventional short form: United Kingdom
abbreviation: UK

Data code: UK

Government type: constitutional monarchy

Capital: London

Administrative divisions: 47 counties, 7 metropolitan counties,
26 districts, 9 regions, and 3 islands areas; England--39 counties, 7
metropolit