1.The Physical Background of Great Britain. The climate of Great Britain.

The official name of this country is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. But it is usually known by a shorter name — "The United Kingdom". There are two large islands and several smaller ones. Collectively they are known as the British Isles. The largest island is called Great Britain. The smaller one is called Ireland. Great Britain is separated from the continent by the English Channel. The country is washed by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Great Britain is separated from Belgium and Holland by the North Sea, and from Ireland — by the Irish Sea. 

   They say that the British love of compromise is the result of the country's physical geography. The mountains in the country are not very high. It doesn't usually get very cold in the winter or very hot in the summer.  The geographical position of Great Britain promoted the development of shipbuilding, different training contacts with other countries.    

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is situated on the British Isles. It consists of four parts: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. England, Wales and Scotland occupy the territory of Great Britain. Northern Ireland is situated in the northern part of Ireland.

Great Britain is a very small country compared with many other countries in the world. The territory of the United Kingdom is about 244 000 square km. It is the 75th place among other countries in the world. The capital of the country is London. The population is over 55 million and there are only 9 other countries with more people, and London is the world’s 7th biggest city.

About 80% of the population is urban.

The surface of Great Britain varies greatly. The northern and western part of the country is mountains and is called the Highlands. All the rest is a vast plain which is called the Lowlands. The mountains are not very high. The rivers are not long. The most important of them are the Severn and the Thames.

Climate: The weather in GB is very changeable. A fine morning can change into a wet afternoon and evening and the wrong side out. The English people say: "Other countries have a climate; in England we have weather." The English also say that they have three variants of weather: when it rains in the morning, when it rains in the afternoon or when it rains all day long.

The best time of the year in GB is spring (of course, it rains in spring too). The two worst months in Britain are January and February. They are cold, damp and unpleasant. Summer months are rather cold and there can be a lot of rainy days. So most people who look forward to summer holidays, plan to go abroad for the summer.

2.The population of the uk. Components of National population change.

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. The distribution of the population is quite 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.

The most densely populated areas are Greater London, the South and the Southwest. Only London's population is over 7 million.

The United Kingdom 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 of 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.

Nowadays one can see people of many colours and races in the United Kingdom.

They are mostly inhabitants from the former British colonies.

The official language of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is English. Besides standard literary English there are several regional and social dialects.

Demographers use several standard ways to measure population processes. Birth rates and death rates and migration are the 3 most important measures. A birthrate (also called a crude birth rate) is the number of births in a given place and year per 1,000 population. Similarly, the death rate (also called a crude death rate) is the number of deaths in a given place and year per 1,000 population. In a population with no emigration, the population growth rate is simply the birthrate minus the death rate divided by 10. By convention, population growth rates are expressed in percent (that is, per hundred people) rather than per thousand people. 

From the 18^th c until well into the 19^th c, Britain’s population soared as the death rate dropped and the birth rate remained high. During the period the total population increased from approximately 6 million in the 1760s to 26 million in the 1870s. Toward the end of the 19^th c and into the 20^th c the birth rate stabilized and the death rate remained law.

Family size decreased and the median age of the population rose. Compared to the rest of the world, the UK has the smaller percentage of the younger people and the higher percentage of the older people, with 20.5% over the age over 60; those under the age 15 years make up only 19.5% of the population. Life expectancy in 2004 was 76 years for men and 81 years for women.