499 km (310 mi) land border with Republic of Ireland
Highest point
Ben Nevis 1,345 m (4,413 ft)
Lowest point
The Fens −4 m (−13 ft)
Longest river
River Severn 354 km (220 mi)
Largest lake
Lough Neagh 392 km2 (151 sq mi)
Climate
Temperate, with some areas of Scotland being Tundra, and Subarctic
Terrain
Mountainous area to the north and west, lowland area to the south and east.
Natural resources
Coal, oil (continental shelf of the North Sea), natural gas, tin, limestone, iron, salt, clay, lead
Natural hazards
Storms, floods
Environmental issues
Biodiversity loss, sulphur dioxide emissions from power plants, some rivers are contaminated by agricultural waste, wastewater into the sea
Exclusive economic zone
In Europe: 773,676 km2 (298,718 sq mi) All overseas territories: 6,805,586 km2 (2,627,651 sq mi)
References
[a][1][2]
The United Kingdom is a sovereign state located off the north-western coast of continental Europe. With a total area of approximately 244,376 square kilometres (94,354 sq mi),[a][1] the UK occupies the major part of the British Isles archipelago and includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern one-sixth of the island of Ireland and many smaller surrounding islands.[3] It is the world's 7th largest island country.[4] The mainland areas lie between latitudes 49°N and 59°N (the Shetland Islands reach to nearly 61°N), and longitudes 8°W to 2°E. The Royal Observatory, Greenwich, in south-east London, is the defining point of the Prime Meridian.
The UK lies between the North Atlantic and the North Sea, and comes within 35 km (22 mi) of the north-west coast of France, from which it is separated by the English Channel. It shares a 499 km (310 mi) international land boundary with the Republic of Ireland.[5][6] The Channel Tunnel bored beneath the English Channel now links the UK with France.
The British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies are covered in their own respective articles, see below.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
^ ab"Standard Area Measurements (Latest) for Administrative Areas in the United Kingdom (V2)". Open Geography Portal. Office for National Statistics. 12 March 2024. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
^"A Beginners Guide to UK Geography (2023)". Open Geography Portal. Office for National Statistics. 24 August 2023. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
^Oxford English Dictionary: "British Isles: a geographical term for the islands comprising Great Britain and Ireland with all their offshore islands including the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands."
^Cite error: The named reference world-atlas was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland, 1999
^MFPP Working Paper No. 2, "The Creation and Consolidation of the Irish Border" by KJ Rankin and published in association with Institute for British-Irish Studies, University College Dublin and Institute for Governance, Queen's University, Belfast (also printed as
IBIS working paper no. 48)
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