The United Kingdom is a sovereign state located off the north-western coast of continental Europe.
Total area of the UK is 9.984.670 sq. km (2-nd largest in the world). Population of the UK is 67.647.112 (2021). Ethnic groups include White (87.1%); Asian (7%), Black (3%), mixed (2%), other (0.9%).
The capital of the UK is London.
The official languages of the UK is English.
The official currency is Pound Sterling (GBP). 1 USD is equal to 0.80 GBP.
The climate of the UK is temperate; moderated by prevailing southwest winds over the North Atlantic Current; more than one-half of the days are overcast; avg. maximum temperature (July) +25°; avg. minimum temperature (January) +5°.
Time difference with Moscow is - 2 hours.
Literacy rate is 99%.
Calling code of the UK is +44.
The principal forms of business organization in the UK are:
Sole trader;
Ordinary partnership;
Limited liability partnership;
Company limited by shares;
Company limited by guarantee;
Private unlimited company;
Public limited company;
Unincorporated association.
The most common structure is the company limited by shares.
The United Kingdom does not have a single legal system due to it being created by the political union of previously independent countries with the terms of the Treaty of Union guaranteeing the continued existence of Scotland's separate legal system. Today the UK has three distinct systems of law: English law, Northern Ireland law and Scots law.
Both English law, which applies in England and Wales, and Northern Ireland law are based on common-law principles. Scots law, a hybrid system based on both common-law and civil-law principles, applies in Scotland.
The United Kingdom is one of only four countries in the world to have an uncodified constitution. The Constitution of the United Kingdom thus consists mostly of a collection of disparate written sources, including statutes, judge-made case law and international treaties, together with constitutional conventions. As there is no technical difference between ordinary statutes and "constitutional law", the UK Parliament can perform "constitutional reform" simply by passing Acts of Parliament, and thus has the political power to change or abolish almost any written or unwritten element of the constitution. However, no Parliament can pass laws that future Parliaments cannot change.
The law regulating English companies is Companies Act. The important fact is that it regulates both companies of England and Northern Ireland.
The United Kingdom is a unitary state under a constitutional monarchy.
The head of state is King Karl III, who also serves as head of state of 15 other independent Commonwealth countries. The monarch is the head of all three branches, she has the right to dissolve Parliament, appoint ministers and declare wars as a commander-in-chief.
Executive power is vested in the government - the Cabinet headed by the Prime Minister. The prime minister chooses a cabinet and they are formally appointed by the monarch to form His Majesty's Government. By convention, the King respects the prime minister's decisions of government. The cabinet is traditionally drawn from members of the Prime Minister's party or coalition and mostly from the House of Commons but always from both legislative houses, the cabinet being responsible to both.
Legislative power is vested in the Parliament, comprised by two houses, and elected House of Commons and an appointed House of Lords. All bills passed are given Royal Assent before becoming law.
Judiciary power: among high courts of the UK are High court, Crown Court and Court of Appeal. Except from high courts there are various lower courts which take about 90% of all cases. Among them are county courts, administrative courts (tribunals), etc.
The UK has a partially regulated market economy. Based on market exchange rates the UK is today the sixth-largest economy in the world and the third-largest in Europe after Germany and France, having fallen behind France for the first time in over a decade in 2008.
Pound sterling is the world's third-largest reserve currency (after the US Dollar and the Euro).
The UK service sector makes up around 73% of GDP. London is one of the three "command centres" of the global economy (alongside New York City and Tokyo), is the world's largest financial centre alongside New York, and has the largest city GDP in Europe. Edinburgh is also one of the largest financial centres in Europe.
Tourism is very important to the British economy and, with over 27 million tourists arriving in 2004, the United Kingdom is ranked as the sixth major tourist destination in the world and London has the most international visitors of any city in the world.
Manufacturing remains a significant part of the economy but accounted for only 16.7% of national output in 2003.