Great Britain and Northern Ireland or the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (officially: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; abbreviation: UK) is formed by a group of islands in northwest Europe. The United Kingdom comprises the former kingdoms of England and Scotland, Wales and the former princely state, all located on the island of Great Britain. Even Northern Ireland therefore belongs to the United Kingdom, but is on the island of Ireland. There are a number of known and lesser-known islands (groups) including: the Orkney Islands and the Shetland Islands in the north, the Hebrides in the west, Anglesey and Man in the Irish Sea, Wight and the Channel Islands in the English Channel. The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man State law does not belong to the United Kingdom but fall directly under the British Crown. Even legislation of the European Union is generally not apply to these islands. To make things even more complicated if there is in literature or in the media about the British Isles talks, provided they Britain and Ireland.
The total area is 130,422 km2 of England and that is 54% of the surface of the United Kingdom (78,800 km2 Scotland, Wales 20,800 km2, Northern Ireland 14,100 km2). England is thus about three times as big as the Netherlands. The area of the United Kingdom is 244,122 km2. The United Kingdom is thus almost 6 times as big as the Netherlands. England lies to the northwest of continental Europe and close to France, only 35.4 km separates the coast of England (Dover) with that of France (Calais) through the Straits of Dover. England is the southern part of Britain, bordered in the north of Scotland, in the west to Wales, in the east to the North Sea and in the south to the Channel. Eastern England is separated by the North Sea from Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Belgium and northern Germany. Ireland and England are separated by the Irish Sea. The total coastline of England is 1851 km and no place is more than 121 km away from the sea. England also belong to the Channel Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and Shark, the Isle of Man, the Isle of Wight and the Isles of Scilly, including St. Mary's.
The people of England are descended from a number of people who are in the course of millennia in the British Isles settled. The last invasion was that of the Normans in 1066. Before the Normans are several pre-Celtic peoples and Keltischtalige to Britain and Ireland came, followed by Romans (55 BC - 410 AD), Anglo-Saxons, Frisians and the Vikings from Denmark and Norway. All these people have clearly failed in their tracks the culture, language and architecture. The number of immigrants from the British Commonwealth after the Second World War in the United Kingdom was living, and their descendants, was founded in 1995 to 4% of the total population estimated. The immigrants just after the war were necessary to the general shortage of manpower reduction. The government tried to solve this problem by immigrants from former colonies like India and Pakistan and from overseas territories in Africa and the Caribbean to attract. The total number ran in the'50s and'60s of the last century in the hundreds of thousands. A large portion of them live in urban areas, among other London and Manchester. In Leicester, Birmingham and Bradford live many people of Asian descent in London while many immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean live. Since 1962/1968 was to increasingly stringent immigration rules and walked back the number of immigrants. In the seventies of the last century, many refugees came to England, includes Uganda, Bosnia, Somalia, Afghanistan and eastern Turkey. At present, about 6% of the English people not white. The domestic migration was mainly people from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to the big industrial cities of England withdrew.
The birth rate in 2004 was 11.8% (1986: 14 ‰ 1964: 19 ‰), the mortality rate 10.2 ‰. In the 1990-1995 period the population increased by 0.3% annually on average again (2004: 0.29%). The average life expectancy at birth in 2004 was 75.8 years for men and for women 80.8 years. Of the population in 2004 was 18% younger than 15 years, 66.3% between 15 and 64 years and 15.7% over 65 years.
England has approximately 51 million inhabitants, and that is approximately 80% of the total population of the United Kingdom (60 million). The bulk of the British population is living in England (82%), 9% in Scotland, 3% in Northern Ireland and 5% in Wales. The British population is 89% living in cities and towns. In 2003 England had a population density of 241 people per km2. All these people are not equally distributed across the country. In the West Midlands for example, live nearly 3,000 people per km2. Oxfordshire and Norfolk are areas where the population density slightly below the national average. Near the Scottish border in Cumbria and Mort Humber Country, lives just 75 people per km2. London is the most densely populated city in England with Chelsea and Kensington, where more than 13,000 inhabitants per km2.