Economic development of Great Britain

Great Britain is a highly developed industrial country. Shipbuilding is one of the principal industries of Great Britain. For centuries Britain has been the leading shipbuilder in the world.

Coal is the main source for the development of British industry. The biggest centres of iron and steel industries are situated in the neighborhood of coal basins. They are Middlesborough, Newcastle, Cardiff, Glasgow, Sheffield. The district around Birmingham is a land of factories and mines.

Coal-mining, metallurgy, textile, shipbuilding are the older branches of industry. The new industries are the chemical, electrotechnical, automobile, aviation and electronics! The new industries have developed hand in hand with science and technology and are equipped to meet present technical demands. Big cities and towns such as London, Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle,

Sheffield and Birmingham have enterprises of nearly all branches of industry, old and new. The main centers of cotton and woolen industry are Leeds, Bradford and Manchester.

London, Liverpool and Glasgow are the biggest English ports. The products of Britain economy, for example, automobiles, textile, machinery, electronic equipment and many others, are exported to many countries of the world.

Agriculture is one of the largest and most important activities in Great Britain. The greater part of the land here is used for sheep-, cattle-, and dairy farming. Vegetables are grown in all parts of the country. The chief grain crops are wheat and barley.

Britain is known to be a pioneer in the industrial revolution. Since then Britain's traditional economic strength has been its manufacturing. Great Britain is one of the highly industrialized countries in the world. Statistics says that for every person employed in agriculture, twelve are employed in industry. Most of the gross national product comes from manufacturing.

Britain is a self-sufficient country in energy. It has significant amounts of coal as well as oil and natural gas under the North Sea bottom.

Britain has large shipbuilding, electro-engineering, oil and chemical industries. The main features of it's economy at the present time are consolidating of capital at a very high level, high profits of monopolists, accelerating inflation, high prices, growing unemployment.

Britain's economic sickness has a long history and many causes. It was built up when the country had a monopolistic dominance in manufacture and trade. At that time she was supported by a large colonial empire. After World War 2^nd these privileged positions changed. The old-fashioned structure of British industry could not adapt quickly to the new conditions on the world market. There is no such a quick growth of new industries in Britain as in other European countries.

Great Britain is a member of the Common Market. But this membership has not vitalized the British economy. Europe sells more to Britain than it buys from her. Britain's trade balance is unfavorable. Any foreigner will see Britain's prosperity but every Englishman knows that his country is in serious trouble.