Population, GDP, natural resources, leaders and history of United Kingdom: the Magna Factbook country file, with its Magna grade (MAB, ranked #4 of 195).
United Kingdom is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy; a Commonwealth realm in Western Europe, islands - including the northern one-sixth of the island of Ireland - between the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea; northwest of France. The country's capital is London; it covers 243,610 sq km. Independence: no official date of independence: 927 (minor English kingdoms unite); 3 March 1284 (enactment of the Statute of Rhuddlan uniting England and Wales); 1536 (Act of Union incorporates England and Wales); 1 May 1707 (Acts of Union unite England, Scotland, and Wales as Great Britain); 1 January 1801 (Acts of Union unite Great Britain and Ireland as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and …
| Capital | London |
|---|---|
| Population | 68,751,311 (2025 est.) |
| GDP (PPP) | $3.636 trillion (2024 est.) |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | $52,500 (2024 est.) |
| Real GDP growth | 1.1% (2024 est.) |
| Inflation | 3.3% |
| Unemployment | 4.2% |
| Public debt | 138.6% of GDP (2023 est.) |
| Exports | $1.117 trillion (2024 est.) |
| Imports | $1.158 trillion (2024 est.) |
| Life expectancy | 82.2 years (2024 est.) |
| Median age | 40.9 |
| Urbanization | 84.6% of total population (2023) |
| Government | parliamentary constitutional monarchy; a Commonwealth realm |
| Independence | no official date of independence: 927 (minor English kingdoms unite); 3 March 1284 (enactment of the Statute of Rhuddlan uniting England and Wales); 1536 (Act of Union incorporates England and Wales); 1 May 1707 (Acts of Union unite England, Scotland, and Wales as Great Britain); 1 January 1801 (Acts of Union unite Great Britain and Ireland as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland); 6 December 1921 (Anglo-Irish Treaty formalizes partition of Ireland; six counties become Northern Ireland and remain part of the UK); 12 April 1927 (Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act establishes current name of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) |
| Languages | English |
MAB · 79/100 — The Magna grade is our 0–100 composite of structural national power — five dimensions, 100+ indicators. It is the Bureau's own assessment, not a mirror of World Bank or CIA figures.
Momentum +20 — Quarterly momentum: the Bureau's read on the country's trajectory over the last quarter, from −10 (deteriorating fast) to +10 (accelerating).
The July handover from Starmer to Burnham reset British politics — the quarter's single biggest momentum event in any country on this board.
The 29 September conference speech then put content behind it: pension reform for a National Care Service, water nationalisation, a public energy company, and a November EU summit. A +20 quarter by any measure.
Coal, Oil, Natural gas, Iron ore, Lead, Zinc, Gold, Tin, Salt, Gypsum, Potash.
Andy Burnham — Prime Minister. King CHARLES III (since 8 September 2022)
United Kingdom maintains 156 embassies and 51 consulates abroad, hosts 167 foreign diplomatic missions, holds permanent missions to UN New York, UN Geneva, NATO Brussels, OECD Paris, UNESCO Paris, OSCE Vienna, CoE Strasbourg. The breadth of a diplomatic network is a direct measure of diplomatic power — it shows how far a country’s influence, alliances and interests reach.
| Embassies abroad | 156 |
|---|---|
| Consulates abroad | 51 |
| Foreign missions hosted | 167 |
| Multilateral missions | UN New York, UN Geneva, NATO Brussels, OECD Paris, UNESCO Paris, OSCE Vienna, CoE Strasbourg |
Source: Abroad: Lowy GDI 2024 via Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_diplomatic_missions . Hosted: Consular Affairs Center in-country ranking, Mar 2026. Multilateral rosters as for AUT.
Transport networks are economic power made physical — ports, runways, railways and pipelines decide what a country can move, sell and defend.
| Sea access | Coastal — 12429 km of coastline. |
|---|---|
| Airports (total) | 1057 + 139 heliports (registration prefix G) |
| Major seaports | Aberdeen, Barrow-in-Furness, Barry, Belfast, Blyth, Bristol, Cardiff, Dundee, Falmouth Harbour, Glasgow, Greenock, Grimsby, Immingham, Kingston-upon-Hull, Leith, Lerwick, Liverpool, London, Londonderry, Lyness, Manchester, Milford Haven, Newport, Peterhead, Plymouth, Portland Harbour, Portsmouth Harbour, Southampton, Sunderland, Teesport, Tynemouth |
| Railways | 16390 km |
Aberdeen International Airport (ABZ) — Aberdeen; Belfast International Airport (BFS) — Belfast; Birmingham Airport (BHX) — Birmingham, West Midlands; Bristol Airport (BRS) — Bristol; Cardiff International Airport (CWL) — Cardiff; East Midlands Airport (EMA) — Nottingham, Leicestershire; Edinburgh Airport (EDI) — Ingliston, Edinburgh; Glasgow Airport (GLA) — Glasgow; Glasgow Prestwick Airport (PIK) — Prestwick, South Ayrshire; Leeds Bradford Airport (LBA) — Leeds, West Yorkshire.
Showing 10 of 15 major airports.
Sources: OurAirports public-domain extract (2026-10-02); per-entry Wikipedia links included; CIA World Factbook via cia_factbook snapshot (2026-09-28)
| Political system | parliamentary constitutional monarchy |
|---|---|
| Last election | 2024 — general; 2024-07-04; winner: Keir Starmer (Labour); Labour 411 seats, landslide Wikipedia |
| Next election | 2029 — general (scheduled) |
Source: constitutional schedule / public election calendar
MAB · 79 Ranked #4 of 195 countries in the Magna Country Rankings. Full ranking breakdown for United Kingdom.
Historical timeline of United Kingdom
