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The United Kingdom is a unitary state consisting of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It is located at the north western coast of the European continent. It includes Great Britain, part of the Ireland Island as well as several small islands.

A part of North Ireland shares a border with the Irish Republic which is an independent state. The UK also borders the Northern Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, the well known English Channel as well as Irish Sea.The UK is run by a constitutional monarch alongside a parliamentary system. The capital center, London is also the seat of government.

Basically the UK consists of four countries namely; England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. The latter three functions as devolved administrations wielding varying powers.

There are three Crown dependencies which are closely related to the UK but not part of it, these include Jersey, Guernsey and Isle of ManThe UK is a highly developed country as well as being among the 7 largest economies by GDP globally.

It boasts of being the most industrialized and most powered from the 19th to early 20th century. It is still considered as a major influence among the great nations of the world in cultural, economic, military, political and scientific influence. Since the first session of the UN Security Council in 1946 the country has been a permanent member of the body.

The UK covers a total area of about 243,610 square kilometers or 94,060 square miles. It occupies a major area of British Isles including Great Britain, a fraction of Ireland and other smaller islands around it.

By 1933 about 10 percent of the area known as UK today was forested, 25 percent was being used for agriculture while 46 percent was under pasture. The country lies between latitudes 490 and 610 N, longitudes 90 W and 20 E. England is more than a half of the country known today as the UK covering 130,395 square kilometers.

The country is consists of mountainous terrain especially towards northwest of Tees-Exe line which include Cumbrian Mountains, a sizable portion of lowland terrain and hills such as the, Exmoor, Peak District and Dartmoor. Main rivers in the UK are Thames, Humber and Severn.

Scafel Pike in Lake District is the highest point in the country measuring 978 meters. The country has a mild climate with rain falling most of the year. Temperatures varies depending on the season although they hardly go below -110 C or 120 F during winter or rising more than 350C ( 950 F) during summer.

The country does not have a codified constitution or a single legal system. Currently it has three different law systems consisting of Scot, North Ireland and English law.

In October 2009 a supreme court came into being replacing the Appellate Committee. Crime in Wales England increased between 1981 and 1995; however these surges in criminal activities have since gone down by 48 percent from 1995 to 2008 judging by recent crime statistics.

In Scotland crime fell to the lowest level ever since 32 years ago between 2009 and 2010.