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| - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia "UK" redirects here. For other uses, see UK (disambiguation).This article is about the sovereign state. For the Island, see Great Britain. For other uses, see United Kingdom (disambiguation).[1] The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a sovereign state located off the north-western coast of continental Europe. The country includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border the UK is surrounded by theAtlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea. The United Kingdom is a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and aparliamentary system, with its seat of government in the capital city of London. It is a country in its own right and consists of four administrative divisions (or countries):England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The latter three of these are devolvedadministrations, each with varying powers, based in their capital cities Belfast,Edinburgh and Cardiff respectively. Associated with the UK, but not constitutionally part of it, are the three Crown dependencies: Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man. The United Kingdom has fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are remnants of theBritish Empire which, at its height in 1922, encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land surface and was the largest empire in history. British influence can still be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former territories. The UK is a developed country and has the world's seventh-largest economy by nominal GDP and eighth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It was the world's firstindustrialised country and the world's foremost power during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The UK remains a great power with leading economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence. It is a recognised nuclear weapons state and itsmilitary expenditure ranks fourth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946. It has been a member of the European Union and its predecessor the European Economic Community since 1973. It is also a member of theCommonwealth of Nations, the Council of Europe, the G7, the G8, the G20, NATO, theOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Trade Organization. ads not by this site
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