Great Britain characteristic features of the population. UK population

a brief description of countries: Great Britain - a state in the north-west of Europe, on the British
islands (the largest is the island of Great Britain), northeastern
parts of the island of Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Isle of Wight, the Channel Islands and other small
islands. Separated from the mainland by the English Channel and Pas de Calais.
The area is 244.11 thousand km2. The population is 65.2 million people. Density
The UK population is equal to 266.5 people 1 km2. Capital -
London.
Great Britain is a constitutional monarchy (but
there is no formal constitution, there are a number of basic
legislative acts). The head of state is the queen. Legislative
power is exercised by the queen and
bicameral parliament (House of Lords and House of Commons).
The executive branch is headed by the prime minister - the leader of the party,
won the majority of votes in elections to the House of Commons and
forming the government.

As of 2016, the UK population has the following age distribution:

Under 15 years old
14-65
64 and older
17,3 %
66,2 %
16,5 %

sex ratio

Age-sex pyramid

the UK age pyramid has a stationary or
rejuvenating type. Such a pyramid is typical for developed countries, for
characterized by a decline in fertility. Despite this, at
relatively low mortality, the population of such countries has
relatively high life expectancy.

Dependency ratio

For UK
the demographic burden is 51.2%.
This attitude means that the UK
experiences a relatively high social
burden on society. This means that every
a working person in the UK must
provide more than 1.5 times more
quantity of goods and services than would be
necessary for himself.

Marriage and family relations

Marriage age: from 16 years old with parental consent
. The British family is monogamous, monogamy is fixed
by law.
British marriage is based on the idea of romantic
love. The determining factor in such a marriage is
emotional individualism.
The British family is neo-local and is built on
paternal line.
. The British family is nuclear and consists of
one or two parents living with
children.

Natural population growth

infant mortality

The main causes of death according to statistics for the year

1st place - Heart and disorders
blood circulation - 158,500 people
2nd place - Cancer - 110,400
3rd place - Respiratory diseases 64,600

Causes of low natural population growth

High level socio-economic development (the family grows
income and fewer children)
High level of urbanization - 75%, rapid income growth (in rural
higher birth rates in urban areas, lower birth rates in cities)
Change in the status of women, emancipation and the emergence of a new system
values
An increase in the proportion of older ages - "aging of the nation", a decrease
young age
Consequences of wars and military conflicts, terrorism
Industrial injuries; man-made disasters: automotive
annually carry up to 250 thousand human lives, road transport
incidents - 60,000, accidents.
Mortality from diseases (AIDS, cancer, etc.)
Natural disasters.

Migration

Increased immigration to the UK from Ireland. Adaptation
Irish immigrants to new environment happened very slowly. And
now they still retain their isolation and some estrangement in
relations with the British.
In connection with the large restoration work, as well as the development
industry after the Second World War increased the influx of
England workers from European countries.
The growth in the number of immigrants from the former British colonies served
reason for raising the question of race relations in
British Isles. UK government in special
acts have attempted to restrict immigration from their former
colonies.

Migration

According to statistics, in 2015:
641 thousand people arrived in the UK. 323 thousand
left the country.
284 thousand people migrated to the UK in search of
work, which is 70 thousand more than in the previous year.
Number of citizens of Romania and Bulgaria who arrived in
United Kingdom, doubled in 2015 to 46,000.
Human.
For the period from January to March 2016, the number of citizens of countries
EU operating in the UK compared to
last year increased by 283 thousand people.

Demographic policy

Although the current level
birth rate in Britain does not even provide
simple reproduction of the population, the state
considers it sufficient to satisfy
their internal and external interests and
needs. In Britain, the prevailing view is
that childbearing is a private matter
individuals and families, and population growth will not bring
no benefits - economic, environmental,
state or social.

Conclusion

Currently, the country is characterized by low, population growth -
the result of both the convergence of birth and death rates, and
reduction in the balance of migration. In some years, the increase is
negative (with a positive balance of migrations). Low
problems of “nation aging” are connected with natural growth. In 2016
16.5% of the population aged 65 years and over.
Average life expectancy: 76 years - men, 86 years - what
higher than in 2012 (71 men, 79 women) Birth rate (per
1000 people) - 12.0. Mortality rate (per 1000 people) - 10.7.
The current population dynamics is very different from
demographic processes of the heyday of Great Britain in the 19th century,
when, despite active emigration to the colony, the population grew
rapidly due to the high birth rate.

Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation

Federal Agency for Education of the Russian Federation

Federal State Educational Institution

Higher professional education

"SOUTH FEDERAL UNIVERSITY"

Essay on population geography on the topic:

"United Kingdom "

Completed by a 4th year student

majoring in Geoecology

Teslenko E.V.

Rostov-on-Don

Introduction

Graph of population dynamics
population reproduction

2.1. fertility

2.2. mortality

2.3. natural increase

3) Sex structure country's population

4) Age structure population

5) Racial Composition

6) National composition

7) Language composition

8) The religious composition of the country's population

9) Social composition

10) Health status

10.2 Lifespan

11) Population density

12) Population migrations

13) Urban and rural population

14) Cities and their classification. Urbanization.

15) Human Resources and their use

Conclusion

Introduction

United Kingdom

It consists of three historically developed isolated regions: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Great Britain is an island nation (located in the British Isles) in northwestern Europe. It consists of three historically developed isolated areas: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

According to the terrain, the country can be divided into two zones: the so-called "High Britain" in the north and west, with a predominantly mountainous terrain, and, for the most part flat, "Low Britain" in the south and east. highest point countries - Mount Ben Nevis, 1343 meters above sea level. Many rivers flow on the territory of the British Isles - the Thames, Severn, Trent, Mersey, etc., in the north there are also many mountain lakes - Loch Ney, Loch Ness, Loch Lomond.

The name "Britain" most likely came from the tribes of the Britons who inhabited the islands in ancient times. In the middle of the first millennium AD, many British tribes moved to the territory of modern France and the area of their settlement was called "Little Britain" or "Brittany", and the historical homeland - "Great (i.e. large) Brittany", "Great Britain".

Great Britain is a member of NATO (since 1949)
1. Graph of population dynamics

Analysis of the development of the demographic situation in Western Europe (on the example of Great Britain, Germany and France) until the beginning of the 90s of the twentieth century.

Population dynamics.

For many millennia, the population of the western part of the European continent, like the Earth as a whole, has grown very slowly. This is explained low level development of productive forces, the great dependence of man on nature on early stages human history. The subsequent development of civilization is associated with such phenomena as the use of metal, the improvement of agriculture and animal husbandry, the introduction of a number of technical inventions.

Europe has been a historical leader in the development of civilization. But its population in the first thousand years of our era increased by only one and a half times. The territory of present-day France was the most populated here.

2. Population reproduction
The population of our planet, which is now over 5 billion people, is growing very rapidly - a quarter of a million people a day. In the current decade alone, the world population will grow by 1 billion people.

However, in different parts Earth population change rate is different. Most of the new residents are born in developing countries ah, while in the group of economically developed countries, the population is growing either at a moderate pace, or very slowly (or even declining).

Reproduction (natural movement) of the population- it is a set of processes of fertility, mortality and natural increase, ensuring the renewal and change of human generations. They are expressed per 1,000 inhabitants of a given territory, i.e. in ppm.

2.1. fertility

During the 1970s, the birth rate in the United Kingdom declined and reached the death rate. From the level of births in 1969, which was 16.7 per thousand inhabitants, it fell in 1977 to 11.8. However, in subsequent years, the birth rate slowly increased.

Population growth. According to the first British census, conducted in 1801, the population of England and Wales was almost 9 million people, and Scotland - more than 1.5 million. the population increased annually by 1–1.5%, but in the 20th century. its growth slowed down, and by the mid-1970s it had practically stopped.

2.2. Mortality.

In the 20th century, the main factor influencing the population was the decrease in mortality. But there was also an opposite trend - a decrease in the birth rate. France became the last "legislator", but soon the same trends swept Great Britain and Germany. There has been a significant drop in the birth rate since economic crisis 1929 In France, for example, for the first time in Europe, the birth rate was less than the death rate. The reduction in natural growth in some countries has become so great that the public and scientists of these countries (France, Austria, Belgium) for the first time started talking about the threat of depopulation and began to look for measures to prevent it.

2.3 Natural increase

For 1981-1999 the coefficient of natural increase increased from 2.2 to 6.0‰. At the same time, the birth rate remained approximately at the same level (14.5-15.5‰), which is slightly higher than the national average (11.5-13.5‰), but the mortality rate decreased markedly - from 11.4 to 8.5‰ (for the whole country in 1999 - 10.6‰).

3. Gender structure of the country's population

The retirement age for women is 60 years, for men - 65 years.

The gender structure of the population of Greater London is characterized by the predominance of women, which - taking into account longer duration their lives - especially noticeable in older age groups. The number of men in the age category of 65 years and older is almost one and a half times less than the number of women (378,000 against 550,000 in 1999).

4. Age structure of the population

The age structure of the population of Greater London has always been considered a kind of standard of demographic old age. It has traditionally been very high specific gravity pensioners (often above 20%, more than the proportion of children). However, in recent times proportions have changed markedly.

5. Racial composition

The population of the planet is a kaleidoscope of numerous races and peoples. Humanity is usually divided into four main races: Caucasoid (42.9% of the world's population), Mongoloid (Asian and American branches - 19.1%), Negroid (about 7%) and Australoid (0.3)%. However, representatives of these races in the total population of the world make up only about 70%. The remaining 30% - fall on representatives of mixed and intermediate racial groups: Ethiopians, Malagasy, Melanesians, as well as: mestizos, mulattoes, sambos.

6. National composition
The ethnic composition of the population of Great Britain is rather motley. From the earliest periods in the history of the British Isles, three distinct ethnic communities- the British, Scots and Welsh, or the Welsh, who occupied three historically separate areas of the island of Great Britain - England proper, Scotland and Wales. The relationship between these three indigenous peoples of the island and the processes that took place among them ethnic processes always occupied important place in political history countries. The national question has not yet been resolved even today. National composition: British - more than 80%, Scots - 10%, Welsh (indigenous people of Wales) - 2%, Irish - 2.5%.

7. Language composition

LanguagesGreat Britain: The official language is English, with Scots and two Celtic languages active: Welsh and Gaelic. Scottish and Gaelic are the national languages of Scotland (Gaelic is spoken in the highlands of Scotland). National language Wales - Welsh, by legislative act, adopted in 1967, the Welsh language has equal rights with the English language. In Wales, all inscriptions are given first in Welsh and then dubbed in English.
Many local vernaculars and dialects of English are spoken in North and West England.
8. Religious composition of the country's population

Religion: There are two main types of Protestantism in Great Britain: Anglicanism (in England) and Presbyterianism (in Scotland). Catholicism is widespread in Wales and some areas of Scotland. Adherents of Judaism, Muslims, Buddhists, and other Protestant movements also live in the UK.

Religion - Anglicans - 27 million, Catholics - 9 million, Muslims - 1 million, Presbyterians - 800 thousand, Methodists - 760 thousand, Sikhs - 400 thousand, Hindus - 350 thousand, Jews - 300 thousand.

9. Social composition

For social composition population modern England also quite typical high percent middle strata, including employees of various categories. These are the notorious "average Englishmen" about whom the English press writes so much, often calling them "white-collar workers". Among them stands out in particular big army clerks - clerical workers of industrial, financial and commercial enterprises.

10. Health status

Since the beginning of the twentieth century. The life expectancy of the British population is gradually increasing: the average life expectancy is 69 years for men and 75 years for women. In connection with a decrease in the birth rate and an increase in life expectancy, the process of "aging" of the population of Great Britain is taking place, which sharply reduces the labor force reserves. In different parts of the Earth, the rate of population change is different. The bulk of new residents are born in developing countries, while in the group of economically developed countries, the population grows either at a moderate pace, or very slowly (or even declining).

11. Placement of the population. Density.

Great Britain is one of the most densely populated and highly urbanized countries in the world. On average, per 1 sq. km. its area accounts for 230 people. However, the distribution of the population across the country is very uneven. The main part of the inhabitants of Great Britain is concentrated in England, which has the most convenient geographic location, favorable natural conditions and playing the lead economic role throughout the history of the British Isles.

12. Migration of the population.

Population migration – movement of people from one territory to another for the purpose of permanent or temporary residence. Migrations are also referred to as " mechanical movement population".

The main indicators of the characteristics of migrations are their scale (the total number of arrivals and departures from a given territory over a given period of time), the intensity of migrations (the ratio of the sum of arrivals and departures to the entire population of a given territory) and the balance of migrations (positive, if more arrived than departed, and negative - vice versa).

LITERATURE

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The article contains information on the UK population. Forms an idea of the ethnic composition of the country. The material contains data on the population density of England.

Ethnic composition of the UK population

In my own way ethnic composition Britain's population is less homogeneous than in any other country in Europe. This is explained by the fact that in early period the history of the state on the skeletons, the process of development of three great friends from a friend of ethnic communities:

the English;
the Scots;
Welsh.

The development of these communities took place in three historically formed insular areas:

England;
Scotland;
Wales.

However, this criterion has changed dramatically over the past half century. The composition of the country's population has become more diverse and integrated with geographic point vision.

Rice. 1. England on the map.

The predominant nationality in the UK is English. Their number exceeds 45 million people. They inhabit England, a significant part of Wales, and the south of Scotland. Of the Celtic peoples, the Scots are the most numerous. Their number exceeds 5 million people.

UK population density

According to statistics from the UN Department of Statistics, the total area of England is 243,610 km2. sq. square.

Population density is calculated as the ratio of the total population to the total territorial area. According to recent calculations, the population of the UK is almost 65,746,853 people.

From this it follows that the population density of the country is 269.9 people per square kilometer. km.

If we take into account such an indicator as the population of Great Britain, it becomes clear that the central and southeastern regions are more densely populated. The northern regions of Scotland and the central region of Wales are not so densely populated.

Rice. 3. Diagram of the population density of the country.

Today Great Britain is the most populated country in Western Europe. It overtook France, Germany, Spain in terms of population.

England is characterized by a significant level of urbanization of the population. Over 89% of Britons live in cities. Half of this number live in metropolitan areas. Average density population on square kilometer approximately amounts to a figure of 245 people.

UK population by preliminary forecasts experts by 2025 will reach 25 million people. Despite the active emigration from developing countries, which fell on 1981-2001, population growth during this time amounted to only 6%. Great Britain has one of the highest in the world which is 242 people per square kilometer.

The birth rate in the UK is 1.3% and the death rate is 10.3%. The average life expectancy for men in the UK is about 75 years, for women - about 81 years. In 2000, the female population in the UK exceeded the male population by 838,000.

According to experts, the population of the UK has serious problem- aging. Thus, in 2002, people over the age of 65 accounted for almost 16% of total number the inhabitants of the country. According to the 2001 census, it turned out that the number of people over 60 exceeds the number of children under the age of 15.

the UK has a very a high degree urbanization of the population. At the end of the 20th century, the population of Great Britain living in cities made up about 90% of the total number of inhabitants. The largest cities in terms of the number of inhabitants are London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Sheffield and others. Also, according to statistics, about half of all UK residents live in cities with a population exceeding 100 thousand people.

Great Britain, whose population is very multinational, in the second half of the 20th century received a large flow of emigrants from India, Pakistan, and later from African states: Uganda, Kenya, Malawi. People from these countries account for about 7% total population Great Britain. As for the largest part of them are the British (about 81%). Other indigenous peoples living in the UK are the Scots (about 9%), the Irish (about 2%) and the Welsh (just under 2%).

The British people speak English. In addition, part of the population of Wales speaks part of the inhabitants of Scotland - Gaelic, and the population of the Channel Islands - French.

Concerning religious sphere, then Great Britain is for the most part a Protestant country. which has state status in England, has about 34 million followers. In Scotland essential role played by the Presbyterian Church, whose followers are 800 thousand people. There are also about 6 million Catholics in the country. In addition, there are quite numerous groups of adherents of Methodism, Baptism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism. The number of adherents of Islam is growing very rapidly, the number of which in 2002 was 1.5 million people.

The political structure of Great Britain implies the right to vote for every citizen of the state and other countries that are members of the Commonwealth, and also regardless of national origin.

Demographically, the UK is a typical Western European country with low birth and death rates and almost zero natural increase. This current situation contrasts sharply with the 19th century, when, despite mass emigration to all corners of the world, the country's population almost tripled. Life expectancy is high - about 78 years.

The United Kingdom today is a multinational and multiracial state. The British make up 82% of the population (about the same as the Russians in Russia). About 10% are Scots, 2% each are Welsh and Irish. About 3% of the population are naturalized immigrants from the British colonies.

Ethnically, the British were formed in the process of mixing the Romans, Celtic and Germanic (Anglo-Saxon) tribes. English language belongs to the northwestern group of Germanic languages. The British are famous for their love of tradition and frugality. Individualism nurtured over the centuries, embodied in the principle “My home is my fortress”, is combined with a craving for communication: all kinds of societies and clubs have always played a big role in the life of the British, as well as many hours of pastime in pubs (English bars). England is the birthplace of many sports games, in particular football.

The Welsh, the Scots, and the Scottish "Highlanders" Gaels belong to the Celtic peoples. All over the world, Scottish men are known for their original national attributes: wearing skirts (kilt) and playing the bagpipes. It is noteworthy that many Scots still wear skirts in Everyday life. By their ornament, one can recognize not only the historical homeland of the owner, but also belonging to one or another genus. The English consider themselves reasonable, calm, patient, well-mannered and possessing a subtle humor, and the "Celts" (Scots and Irish) - romantic, easily excitable and impulsive. The "Celts" believe that the British are overly arrogant and cold.

If among the Scots and Welsh separatist sentiments do not find the support of the majority, then the British have tense relations with the Irish. The fact is that Northern Ireland was annexed only in 1922, when the rest of Ireland gained independence. Fate decreed that three peoples of different faiths were determined to live together on the same territory: Irish Catholics, Scottish Protestants (Presbyterians) and English (Anglicans). Wherein indigenous people, the Irish, were in the minority. The smoldering religious conflict is in fact a complex knot of not only and not so much inter-confessional contradictions as a struggle of economic, social, political and clan interests.

The problem of immigrants, of which there are more than a million in the country, is also aggravating. Mostly they come from the countries of the Caribbean. More than half of the immigrants settled in Greater London. Increasingly significant in the political and economic life English society becomes an "Islamic" factor. An extensive network of various Islamic organizations has been created in the country, some of which attract the increased attention of the British intelligence services, especially after the explosion on September 11, 2001. shopping center in NYC.

The structure of employment of the population is typical for a modern developed country, and post-industrial trends are particularly pronounced here. 70% of the working population is employed in the non-material sphere - these are the so-called "white collars", of which most of them work in the financial sector, In the field material production less than 20% of employees are employed, in the agricultural sector - less than 1%. The unemployment rate is changeable, in the first years of the new century it was quite high - about 6%, which indicates a not very favorable situation in the country's economy as a whole.

The social composition of the population also has its own characteristics. In recent centuries, Great Britain has not experienced such grandiose upheavals as the Great French or October Revolution. Until now, the old tribal aristocracy, although its role in the life of the country has long become a third-rate. After the deprivation of peers of life seats in the House of Lords, the influence of the aristocracy is reduced to almost nothing. But it was in the UK before other countries that the key estate became middle class, uniting today more than half of the country's population. The "Middle class" is the backbone of the modern English economy and has been the most massive of the classes for several decades. He is really average in many ways, including in terms of income.

Working class, main actor times of the industrial revolution, today is less than 1 / 5 of the population. And the fact that the peasantry in England ceased to exist as a class to early XIX century, wrote K. Marx.

United Kingdom - populous country. The population density in England is over 350 people. on km 2, Wales - 130, and North - about 100. Another distinguishing feature- an ultra-high level of urbanization, 90% of the population lives in cities, almost half of them live in cities with more than 100 thousand people. Most large agglomerations(more than 1 million people): London, West Midlands with a center in Birmingham, Merseyside around Liverpool, Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire (Leeds Bradford), South Yorkshire (Sheffield Rotherham) and Clydeside around Glasgow. Greater London has about 10 million people.

London is not only the capital of Great Britain, but, as already mentioned, one of the world's cities - the most important nodes in the framework of the modern global economy. economic system. It was founded almost two thousand years ago (more than twice as old as Moscow). Each historical district of the city has its own history and functions. The oldest of them is Westminster and the City. Westminster is the political, administrative and religious center of the kingdom. Here is the building of the English Parliament with the famous Big Ben and Westminster Abbey, where I, Newton, C. Darwin, C. Dickens are buried. The City is the main business part of London, while the boundaries of the City run along the line of the fortress walls of the Roman Londinium. Westend has traditionally been a wealthy aristocratic district of the capital, and Eastend, located closer to the docks on the Thames, is a working class. It is built up with unsightly, solid houses of the same type. Today, the visual boundaries between the central regions are largely erased. This is due, firstly, to the rapid post-war development of the city, including the center. During the Second World War, London was badly damaged as a result of massive German bombing. Secondly, it has significantly changed and become more complicated functional structure, which contributed to the erosion of the old, more rigid territorial organization. AT recent decades 20th century many Londoners moved out of the city center to a more environmentally friendly suburbanization "donut", and the center was increasingly populated by immigrants of all stripes. Many in the center and foreign tourists. Walking down Piccadilly or trafalgar square, involuntarily recall the biblical Babylonian pandemonium. Special attention attract unique elements of the famous English conservatism: phone booths early 20th century, taxis designed in the 1930s, double-decker buses. At the same time, they are all equipped with cutting-edge "stuffing".

After the war, eight new satellite cities of the so-called London Ring were built around London, which reduced the housing burden, but at the same time increased pressure on transport infrastructure capital Cities.

Birmingham, the second largest city in Great Britain, is the center of the West Midlands conurbation (more than 2.5 million people). This is a classic industrial-urban agglomeration, the birth and "golden age" of which falls on the era of "coal and steel".

In recent decades, the government has taken measures to regulate the process of decline of old industrial cities and agglomerations, which is primarily associated with the growth of post-industrial trends in the economy. These measures have helped alleviate some of the social problems generated by the massive inland and the withering away of hundreds of settlements.

A very interesting phenomenon in the UK is new cities. The ego of the city, which began to be created "from a peg" but with a special master plans also in late XIX in. They were laid down as cities of the future: scientifically substantiated optimal planning, the creation of an extensive infrastructure, the maximum consideration of environmental parameters of the quality of life. Now there are about a hundred such cities in the UK. Many of them have become R&D centers, cores of technopolises.

According to key indicators of the quality of life, the UK is among the highly developed countries, although, according to UN experts, integral assessment for the 1990s not brilliant - 10-15th place in the world, depending on the year, behind countries such as, and Australia. This is due, in particular, to the growth of the “poverty index” and the difficult environmental situation. Nevertheless, in terms of such an indicator of the quality of life as the actual final consumption of households (according to PPP), the UK is ahead of and . Hourly wages here are higher than in the US (£10.3 in 2000). It is also important that the differences in the standard of living between the city and the countryside have been practically erased.

There are geographical differences in the level and quality of life in the UK. The highest income indicators are in the counties of the south and south-east of England and southern Scotland. Living in a quiet provincial town or village is not only more comfortable, but also more prestigious than in bustling London. Traditionally poorer population Wales and Ulster (Northern Ireland), which is exacerbated by the crisis in a number of key sectors of the economy, in particular and. It has the highest unemployment rate in the UK and relatively low incomes (one third lower than the UK average).