Читать книгу Great Britain: geography, politics, culture - Л. А. Ласица - Страница 4

The UK occupies the territory of 244 830 sq. km. Its population (statistical data of 2007) is 61 million people (table 1).

Table 1

Compare with the following data: population of Russia – 142 mln; population of Germany – 81,8 mln; population of France – 65,4 mln.

Languages which are spoken in the UK are English, Scottish, Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Irish.

The capital of the UK is London. The largest cities are London (7,64 mln.), Birmingham (2,27 mln.), Manchester (2,250 mln.).

The UK is a constitutional monarchy. The head of state is the Queen – Elizabeth II.

The currency unit is Great Britain pound (GBP), which consists of 100 pence. The statistics shows that the country is not large, but the majority of people lives in England (the part of island conquered by Anglo-Saxons) and speaks English. The other parts of the UK (Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) are much smaller than the dominant one.