Population: 59,511,464 ( +0.18%AGR July 2000 est.)

Ethnic groups: English 81.5%, Scottish 9.6%, Irish 2.4%, Welsh 1.9%, Ulster 1.8%, West Indian, Indian, Pakistani, and other 2.8%

Religions: Anglican 27 million, Roman Catholic 9 million, Muslim 1 million, Presbyterian 800,000, Methodist 760,000, Sikh 400,000, Hindu 350,000, Jewish 300,000 (1991 est.)

Languages: English, Welsh (about 26% of the population of Wales ), Scottish form of Gaelic (about 60,000 in Scotland )

Capital: London

Independence: England has existed as a unified entity since the 10th century; the union between England and Wales was enacted under the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284; in the Act of Union of 1707, England and Scotland agreed to permanent union as Great Britain; the legislative union of Great Britain and Ireland was implemented in 1801, with the adoption of the name the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; the Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921 formalized a partition of Ireland; six northern Irish counties remained part of the United Kingdom as Northern Ireland and the current name of the country, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, was adopted in 1927

Capital London 11.8 mill.

People: Anglo-Saxon/Celtic 89.3%. Asian 4%. European 2.1%. Afro-Caribbean 1.7%. Middle Eastern 0.8%. African 0.5%. Other 1.6%.

Literacy 98%. Official language English; in Wales both English and Welsh. All languages 15 indigenous, over 200 immigrant languages. Indigenous languages with Scriptures 7Bi 2NT.

Guernsey

Population: 64,080 (July 2000 est.)

Ethnic groups: UK and Norman-French descent

Religions: Anglican, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Baptist, Congregational, Methodist

Languages: English, French, Norman-French dialect spoken in country districts