Since 1922, the United Kingdom has been made up of four countries: England, Scotland, Wales (which collectively make up Great Britain) and Northern Ireland (variously described as a country, province, jurisdiction or region). The UK prime minister's website has used the phrase "countries within a country" to describe the United Kingdom.

Although the United Kingdom is a unitary sovereign state, it contains three distinct legal jurisdictions: England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, each retaining its own legal system.; Since 1998, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have also gained significant autonomy through the process of devolution. The UK Parliament and UK Government deal with all reserved matters for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, but not in general matters that have been devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly, Scottish Parliament and Senedd. Additionally, devolution in Northern Ireland is conditional on co-operation between the Northern Ireland Executive and the Government of Ireland (see North/South Ministerial Council) and the British Government consults with the Government of Ireland to reach agreement on some non-devolved matters for Northern Ireland (see British–Irish Intergovernmental Conference). England, comprising the majority of the population and area of the United Kingdom,2011 Census – Population. According to the 2011 census, the population of England was 53,012,456, and the population of the United Kingdom was 63,181,775, therefore England comprises 84% of the UK population.Region and Country Profiles, Key Statistics and Profiles, October 2013, Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 9 August 2015. According to the ONS, England has an area of 130,279 km², and the UK has an area of 242,509 km², therefore England comprises 54% of the area of the UK. does not have its own devolved government and remains fully the obligation of the United Kingdom Parliament centralised in London.

England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are not themselves listed in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) list of countries. However, the ISO list of the subdivisions of the United Kingdom, compiled by British Standards and the United Kingdom's Office for National Statistics, uses "country" to describe England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland, in contrast, is described as a "province" in the same lists. Each has separate national governing bodies for sports and compete separately in many international sporting competitions, including the Commonwealth Games. Northern Ireland also forms joint all-island sporting bodies with the Republic of Ireland for some sports, including rugby union.

The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are dependencies of the Crown and are not part of the United Kingdom. Similarly, the British Overseas Territories, remnants of the British Empire, are not part of the UK.

From 1801, following the Acts of Union, until 1922 the whole island of Ireland was a country within the United Kingdom. Ireland was split into two separate jurisdictions in 1921, becoming Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland. Pursuant to the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the institutions of the revolutionary Irish Republic were assimilated into Southern Ireland, which then became the Irish Free State and left the United Kingdom in 1922. The Irish Free State adopted a new, essentially republican constitution in 1937 – albeit retaining the King for diplomatic functions – which declares that the country's name is Ireland. In 1949, by The Republic of Ireland Act 1948, it transferred these diplomatic functions to its own president, left the Commonwealth of Nations and adopted the alternative description "Republic of Ireland".

Key facts

+Overview of countries of the United Kingdom Nation Flag Capital Legislature Executive Legal system Jurisdiction England London None None English law England and Wales Scotland Edinburgh Scottish Parliament Scottish Government Scots law Scotland Wales Cardiff Senedd Welsh Government English law,Welsh law England and Wales Northern Ireland None Belfast Northern Ireland Assembly Northern Ireland Executive Northern Ireland law,Irish land law Northern Ireland United Kingdom London UK Parliament UK Government None officially United Kingdom

+ 2021 population statistics of the countries of the United KingdomClick 'Download' and open the smallest csv file. Second column indicates "Area to Mean High Water". Nation Population Land area Density(/km) Gross value added People (%) (km) (%) £ (billion) (%) £ per capita England 56,536,000 84.3% 130,462 53.4% 434 1,760 86.3% 31,138 Scotland 5,480,000 8.2% 78,803 32.2% 70 150 7.3% 27,361 Wales 3,105,000 4.6% 20,782 8.5% 150 70 3.4% 22,380 Northern Ireland 1,905,000 2.8% 14,333 5.9% 141 46 2.2% 24,007 Extra-regio 15 0.7% United Kingdom 67,026,000 100% 244,381 100% 276 2,040 100% 30,443

Terminology

Various terms have been used to describe England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Acts of Parliament

The Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542 annexed Wales to EnglandLaws in Wales Act 1535, Clause I to create the single legal entity, though legal differences remained. Further Acts meant this combined territory was referred to in law simply as 'England' from 1746 until 1967. Wales was described (in varying combinations) as the "country", "principality" and "dominion" of Wales.Laws in Wales Act 1542 The Laws in Wales Acts have subsequently been repealed. The Acts of Union 1707 refer to both England and Scotland as a "part" of a united kingdom of Great Britain.e. g. "... to be raised in that Part of the united Kingdom now called England", "...that Part of the united Kingdom now called Scotland, shall be charged by the same Act..." Article IX The Acts of Union 1800 use "part" in the same way to refer to England and Scotland. However, they use the word "country" to describe Great Britain and Ireland respectively, when describing trade between them.e. g. "That, from the first Day of January one thousand eight hundred and one, all Prohibitions and Bounties on the Export of Articles, the Growth, Produce, or Manufacture of either Country, to the other, shall cease and determine; and that the said Articles shall thenceforth be exported from one Country to the other, without Duty or Bounty on such Export"; Union with Ireland Act 1800, Article Sixth. The Government of Ireland Act 1920 described Great Britain, Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland as "countries" in provisions relating to taxation. The Northern Ireland Act 1998, which repealed the Government of Ireland Act 1920, does not use any term to describe Northern Ireland.

Current legal terminology The Interpretation Act 1978 provides statutory definitions of the terms "England", "Wales" and the "United Kingdom", but neither that Act nor any other current statute defines "Scotland" or "Northern Ireland". Use of the first three terms in other legislation is interpreted following the definitions in the 1978 Act. The definitions in the 1978 Act are listed below: "England" means, "subject to any alteration of boundaries under Part IV of the Local Government Act 1972, the area consisting of the counties established by section 1 of that Act, Greater London and the Isles of Scilly." This definition applies from 1 April 1974. "United Kingdom" means "Great Britain and Northern Ireland." This definition applies from 12 April 1927. "Wales" means the combined area of the 8 Preserved counties of Wales as outlined section 20 of the Local Government Act 1972, as originally enacted, but subject to any alteration made under section 73 of that Act (consequential alteration of boundary following alteration of watercourse). In 1996 these eight new counties were redistributed into the current 22 unitary authorities.

In Welsh law, "Wales" and "Cymru" are defined in the Legislation (Wales) Act 2019 as "(a) the combined area of the counties and county boroughs in Wales (see Parts 1 and 2 of Schedule 4 to the Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70)), together with (b) the sea adjacent to Wales within the seaward limits of the territorial sea."

In the Scotland Act 1998, in section 126, states that Scotland includes "so much of the internal waters and territorial sea of the United Kingdom as are adjacent to Scotland".Scotland Act 1998 Interpretation of Scottish Act 1998, Nov 1998

The Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 refers to England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as "parts" of the United Kingdom in the following clause: "Each constituency shall be wholly in one of the four parts of the United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland)."

Other usage

European Union

For the purposes of NUTS 1 collection of statistical data in a format that is compatible with similar data collected in the European Union (on behalf of Eurostat), the United Kingdom was divided into twelve regions of approximately equal size. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were regions in their own right while England was divided into nine regions. Following Brexit, the Office for National Statistics uses International Territorial Level, which is currently a mirror of the NUTS 1 system until the 2024 review.

"Rest of the UK"

The official term rest of the UK (RUK or rUK) is used in Scotland, for example in export statistics and in legislating for student funding.

Identity and nationality

According to the British Social Attitudes Survey, there are broadly two interpretations of British identity, with ethnic and civic dimensions:

Of the two perspectives of British identity, the civic definition has become the dominant idea and in this capacity, Britishness is sometimes considered an institutional or overarching state identity. This has been used to explain why first-, second- and third-generation immigrants are more likely to describe themselves as British, rather than English, Northern Irish, Scottish or Welsh, because it is an "institutional, inclusive" identity, that can be acquired through naturalisation and British nationality law; the vast majority of people in the United Kingdom who are from an ethnic minority feel British. However, this attitude is more common in England than in Scotland or Wales; "white English people perceived themselves as English first and as British second, and most people from ethnic minority backgrounds perceived themselves as British, but none identified as English, a label they associated exclusively with white people". Contrariwise, in Scotland and Wales "there was a much stronger identification with each country than with Britain."

The Commission for Racial Equality found that with respect to notions of nationality in Britain, "the most basic, objective and uncontroversial conception of the British people is one that includes the English, the Scots and the Welsh". However, "English participants tended to think of themselves as indistinguishably English or British, while both Scottish and Welsh participants identified themselves much more readily as Scottish or Welsh than as British". Some people opted "to combine both identities" as "they felt Scottish or Welsh, but held a British passport and were therefore British", whereas others saw themselves as exclusively Scottish or exclusively Welsh and "felt quite divorced from the British, whom they saw as the English". Commentators have described this latter viewpoint as "nationalism", a rejection of British identity because some Scots and Welsh interpret it as "cultural imperialism imposed" upon the United Kingdom by "English ruling elites",. or else a response to a historical misappropriation of equating the word "English" with "British", which has "brought about a desire among Scots, Welsh and Irish to learn more about their heritage and distinguish themselves from the broader British identity". The propensity for nationalistic feeling varies greatly across the UK and can rise and fall over time.