Population

The population of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is over 57 million people. The population lives mostly in towns and cities and their suburbs. Four out of every five people live in towns.

The distribution of the population is rather uneven. Over 46 million people live in England, over 3 million in Wales, a little over 5 million in Scotland and about 1.5 million in Northern Ireland.

Greater London, the south and the southeast are the most densely populated areas. Only London’s population is over 8 million. Most of the mountainous parts of the UK including much of Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Pennine Chain in northern England are very sparsely populated.

The UK is inhabited by the English, the Scots, the Welsh and the Irish who constitute the British nation. The British are the descendants of different peoples who settled in the British Isles at different times.

The earliest known people in Britain were of Iberian origin. Then followed a long succession of invaders including the Celts, the Romans, the Anglo-Saxons, the Danes and at last in 1066 the Normans. It was the last time Britain was invaded.

Now there are also many people of all colours and races in the UK. These are mostly former inhabitants of the former British colonies. These people, called “the coloureds”, came to the UK in search of better living standards as their own countries had been impoverished by centuries of the British colonial oppression.

English is the official language of the UK. Besides standard literary English there are several regional and social dialects. A well-known example is the cockney of East Londoners. The Scottish and Irish forms of Gaelic survive in some parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Wales is officially bilingual, Welsh is spoken by about a fifth of its population. Welsh is the first language in most of the western counties of Wales and at least formally has the same status as English. Nowadays there is a growing movement in Wales and Scotland for a revival of national culture and languages.

the English - англичане

the Scots [skots] -шотландцы

the Welsh [wel∫] – валлийцы, уэльсцы

the Irish [΄airi∫] -ирландцы

The British – англичане, британцы

Iberian [ai΄biəriən] – иберийский (иберийцы – древнейшее население Британских островов)

the Celts [kelts] -кельты

the Romans [΄roumənz] -римляне

the Anglo-Saxons [΄æŋglou΄sæksənz] -англосаксы

the Danes -датчане

the Normans [΄no:mənz] -норманны

cockney [΄kokni] – кокни, лондонское просторечие