The UK is situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe, and has a land border with the Republic of Ireland, but is otherwise surrounded by the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea, the Irish Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean.

The UK has four constituent parts. Three of these are England, Wales and Scotland.The fourth part is Northern Ireland, which is located on the island of Ireland and is a province of the United Kingdom.

The United Kingdom is a leading trading power and financial centre and is the fourth largest economy in the world. Over the past two decades, the government has greatly reduced public ownership by means of privatisation programmes, and has contained the growth of the Welfare State.

Agriculture is intensive, highly mechanised, and efficient and employs only 1% of the labour 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 state.

Services, particularly banking, insurance and business services, account for by far the largest proportion of GDP.

Industry continues to decline in importance, although the UK is still Europe's largest manufacturer of cars, armaments, petroleum products, personal computers, televisions, and mobile telephones.

The United Kingdom is the world's 6th biggest tourist destination, with 24.8 million tourists visiting in 2003. US$17.2 billion was spent by tourists in the UK.

Net international migration into the UK from abroad has been an increasingly important factor in population growth. Around one in twelve of the UK populations were born overseas. Around a half of international migrants are aged between 25 and 44 and the overseas-born population is more concentrated in the working age group than is the UK-born population. There are about 5 lac Hindu, 5 lac Sikhs and 15 lac Muslims in the U.K.