In the age of modern technology, Britain has made important advances in electronics and telecommunications equipment, air­craft and aircraft engines, radio-isotopes and new medicines.

Electronic data-processing equipment is a growing industry. Britain has originated a lot of advanced technologies in micro­electronics. The main electronic consumer goods produced are tel­evision sets with an increasing proportion of widescreen and dig- italsets, electronic control equipment.

The aerospace industry, the third largest in the world, exports over 70% of its production. It produces civil as well as military aircraft, satellites, space systems, guided weapons³ and compo­nents.

Over the last decades growth has been most notable in chemi­cal and electrical, electronic and instrument engineering. Being the fifth largest in Western Europe, the chemical industry is developing intensively and exports nearly 50% of its output. It includes key industrial materials such as plastics and synthetic rubber, and other products such as man-made fibres, soap and detergents, cosmetics, adhesives, dyes and links, and ingredients for the pharmaceutical industry. The production of iron and steel remains important part of the industrial economy. The major areas of steel production are concentrated in south Wales and northern England. \

Service industries. After the Second World War Britain had its longest period of uninterrupted economic growth, steadily increasing its importance as a world financial state and has already completed its transformation into a modem service eco­nomy¹.

Services have experienced the fastest growth in recent years. They account for the largest proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) and employ almost 70% of the working population.

The service industries include financial, banking, retailing, wholesaling, tourism, business services, transport, insurance, investment, advertising, public relations, market research, edu­cation, administrative and government, professional services. Financial services are an important source of employment and overseas earnings.

The Bank of England, as the central bank, was nationalized in 1946 and is the bank of issue in England and Wales. It is respon­sible for the monetary policy of the country and also manages the country’s foreign exchange and gold reserves.

1. Great Britain has 17 major commercial banks with more than 17.000 domestic and overseas branches. Most of which are offices of the largest banks: HSBC (the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, London), Royal Bank of Scotland (Edinburgh), Barclays Bank (London), Lloyds TSB (the Trustee Savings Bank, London). There is also a government-run savings bank called National Savings and Investments. Some banking services are provided by the postal system⁵, savings banks, and building societies⁹.

The pound sterling (&1) is the basic unit of currency in Britain. The European Union established the euro as its unit of currency, and other EU members made the transition to the euro between 1990 and 2002. However, the British government decid- ed-not to adopt the euro and to keep the pound as its currency.

Britain is one of the world’s foremost travel destinations and tourlfem is an essential part of Britain’s income. It employs about 1.5 milliqn (7%) of the workforce and contributes about 3.5% to the GDP. The British Tourist Authority⁷, supported by the gov­ernment, promotes tourism in Britain and maintains hundreds of Tourist Information Centers to assist visitors.

■ Britain has historically been an inaovator and world leader in many forms of transportation, from shipping to rail systems and aviation. Most of Britain’s roads are motorways. But the network of motorways is inadequate for the volume of traffic and there are terrible congestion problems⁸, especially in and around London.

London’s main airports, Heathrow and Gatwick, are among the world’s busiest centers for international travel. Heathrow itself handles more than 67 million passengers a year. There are nearly 150 other licensed civil airfields in Britain.

A railway tunnel beneath the English Channel was completed in 1993, connecting England and the European continent. The main Channel Tunnel, which is 50.4 km (32 mi) long, runs from Folkestone, England, to Calais, France. Trains carry both passen­gers and freight through the tunnel. The trip through the tunnel takes about 35 minutes.

London Underground operates more than 400 km of railway. Known as the tube, the system serves 275 stations, with more than 500 trains running during peak periods. The underground provides reliable public transportation for an impressive number of commuters across a larger metropolitan area. Glasgow, Liverpool, Tyne and Wear, Manchester, and Sheffield have their own urban rail system“.

England (with the population of 50,431.700, 2005)^ is the largest and most populous constituent country of the United Kingdom of Great Britain aud Northern Ireland. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total population of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the North Sea, Irish Sea, Atlantic Ocean, and English Channel.

Historically England is divided into the following economic regions: the South of"EngTand, Central England or the Midlands¹, and Northern England.

The South-East is the largest and most populous part of England. More than one-third of Britain’s population and eco­nomic activity is concentrated in southeastern England, in and around London.

London is at the heart of Britain’s economy. Manufacturing has steadily declined and today accountefoF'STTly'tO percent of total employment. The printing and publishing industry is now a leading employer. Electrical and electronic engineering; food, drink, and tobacco industries, chemicals and synthetic fibers are also important to the economy.

London is a major global financial centre, rivaled only by² Tokyo and New York. It leads other cities in the number of Inter­national banks, the amount of foreign lending, the activity of the foreign exchange market, and the size of its international insur­ance business.

The financial services sector is a major source of overall employment in London.The Bank of England, Lloyd’s³, the Stock Exchange⁴, and numerous other banks and investment companies have their headquarters there, primarily in the City⁵, but increas­ingly at Canary Wharf⁶. Currently, over 85% (3.2 million) of the employed population of Greater London⁷ works in the service industries including tourism. Another half a million employees residing in Greater London work in manufacturing and construc­tion, almost equally divided between both.

The Port of London is the largest and commercially most important in Britain. London exports manufactured goods and imports petroleum, tea, wool, raw sugar, timber, butter, metals, and. meat. Consumer goods, clothing, precision instruments, jewelry, and stationery are produced, but manufacturing has lost a number of jobs in the once-dominant textile, furniture, and chemical-processing industries as firms have moved outside the area. Engineering and scientific research are also important to the economy.

In the centre of England — the Midlands — there are indus­trial centres of Birmingham and the Black Country⁸. The Midlands was formerly a great coal-mining region. The great city of Manchester is the centre of the English textile industry.

Scotland (with population 5.062.011) has a highly developed western style open mixed economy, the third largest GDP per capita of any region of.the United Kingdom after London and the South East of England.

Scotland has plenty of natural resources from fertile land, suitable for agriculture, to oil and gas. In terms of mineral resources, Scotland produces coal, zinc and iron. With Scottish waters consisting of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil resources in the European Union — Scotland is the EU’s largest petroleum producer.

Traditionally, the Scottish economy has been dominated by_j heavy industry, shipbuilding, coal-mining and steel industries. De-industrialization during the 1970’s and 1980’s shifted from manufacturing focus towards a more service orientated economy.

\ Edinburgh is the administrative capital of Scotland and the sixth largest financial centre in Europe, with many large finance firms concentrated there, including: the Royal Bank of Scotland (the second largest bank in Europe); HBOS (Halifax Bank of Scotland); and Standard LifejThe Scottish finance sector has grown to the point where it is the sixth largest management centre in Europe. Scotland is home to⁹ a unit of the London Stock Exchange. Based in Glasgow — Scotland’s largest city- it is the largest regional stock exchange in the UK and regularly handles between a third and a half of all transactions by Britain’s private investors.

Total Scottish exports refer to manufacturing. The textile industry is the 7th largest exporter in Scotland accounting for over 3% of all Scottish manufactured products. Glasgow is Scotland’s leading seaport and is the fourth largest manufactur­ing centre in the UK, accounting for over 60% of Scotland’s man­ufactured exports. Scotland’s primary exports include whisky, textiles (woolens, silks, and linens), beer, electronics and finan­cial services.

Scotland’s excellence in electronics is evident in the computer industry. In this sector alone, the country produces one-third of branded personal computers sold in Europe and 7 per cent of the world’s output. Only about one quarter of the land is under cultivation — mainly in cereals. Barley, wheat and potatoes are grown in eastern parts of Scotland. Agriculture, especially cropping in Scotland, is highly mechanized and generally efficient.

Wales (population 2,903,085) characterized by farms and pas­toral highlands^. The industrial wealth of Wales is concentrated in the southern counties bordering on the Bristol Channel. This area has large steel works, oil refineries, tinplate and copper foundriesJCardiff, the modern national capital ofJyVales, is a port and also an administrative and educational centre. Cardiff rose to importance with the coal-mining and iron industries. Heavy industry, once a mainstay of the Welsh economy has largely been in decline over the past century but is still very apparent. Nearly all the tinplate and much of the aluminium of sheet steel products in the UK are produced in Welsh plants. Much of the ore is now imported and some of the metal produced is re-exported.

Wales is now home to more than 300 overseas-owned manu­facturing companies, including major multi-nationals such as Sony, Bosch, Ford, Panasonic and Toyota. It has the largest con­centration of Japanese manufacturing companies in Britain, mainly in electronics.

Approximately 80% of the land in Wales is used for agricul- tureXWith its grassy and hilly terrain, livestock farming is more common than crop cultivation. Cattle farming for beef and dairy products are also wide-spread. Wales’s fishing industry is con­centrated mainly along the Bristol Channel. Agriculture, forestry and fishing only contribute to 1.5 % of the economy. The modern Welsh economy is dominated by the service sector.

| Swansea, Newport and, in particular, Cardiff are centres for retail, hotels and restaurants, financial and business servicesj A rela­tively high proportion of jobs in service sector in Wales are in the non­productive public sector: public administration, health and education.

With its mountainous landscape and numerous sandy beaches, Wales has always attracted much tourism.

Northern Ireland (pop. 1,700,000) economy is the small­est of the four economies making up the United Kingdom."*

The land of Northern Ireland is mountainous and has few nat­ural resources: chalk, clays, lime stones and gravels. The economy relies on the import of raw materials (especially coal and oil) from other parts of Great Britain.

Heavy industry is concentrated in and around the capital of Northern Ireland — Belfast, where shipbuilding became a main­stay of employment. Machinery and equipment manufacturing, food processing, and textile and electronics manufacturing are the leading industries. Other industries such as papermaking, furniture manufacturing, aerospace and shipbuilding are also important, concentrated mostly in the eastern parts of Northern Ireland. Of these different industries, Northern Ireland’s fine linens is one of the most notable and is considered as one of the most well-known around Europe. Although its share of economic output has declined, manufacturing output in Northern Ireland has remained almost unchanged after a period of steep manufac­turing growth between 1998 and 2001. However, this overall pic­ture of health hides a dramatic shift in manufacturing priorities, with the decline of traditional industries, such as textiles and shipbuilding, at the expense of high-tech and capital-intensive industries. In 2005, chemicals and engineering were the only two manufacturing sub-sectors to record growth, while output of tex­tiles fell by 18%. Engineering is the largest manufacturing sub­sector in Northern Ireland, particularly in the fields of aerospace and heavy machinery. More recently the local economy has bene­fited from major investment by many large multi-national corpo­rations into high-tech indu