United+Kingdom

**Country Research by Jamie Lim**

Directions:
 * 1) Save a copy of this for your reference.
 * 2) Re-title the Word document with each country’s name and Save as such. Example: Save as: Morocco.doc
 * 3) Fill in the information as requested, and interpret it.
 * 4) When completed, attach to the wiki space page with the name of your country.

**United Kingdom** || Information and Data || Interpretation ||
 * Country Name
 * Location, Territory and Neighbours || Western Europe, between the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea. Northwest of France.

243, 610 sq km. || Spacious, surrounded by a lot of water, making it easy to do trades. ||
 * Political environment Format of government || Government type: Constitutional monarchy and Commonwealth realm

Queen: Queen Elizabeth II Prime Minister (Head of Government): David Cameron

- Low political risk || Common law system, non-binding judicial system. Unwritten constitution, partly common law and practice. || - Unemployment fell by 7000 to 2.59 million in 2011/early 2012 - Employment rates increasing though
 * Economic situation || - Developed country

GDP: $2.481 trillion Annual Growth Rate: +1.14% Unemployment Rate: 8.1% (2011) Pop. Below Poverty Line: 14%

- Economy is doing better due to the recent London Olympics (+1% GDP) || Has high position status, economically stable, fast growing. Predicted to be the second fastest growing economy in the G7 by 2015. || Commodities: Manufactured goods, chemicals, fuels, food, beverages, tobacco
 * Natural resources, main trading partners, economic interests || **Exports:** $479.20 billion (2011)

Partners: Germany 10.9%, US 9.9%, Netherlands 7.9%, France 7.4%, Switzerland 7.1%, Ireland 6%, Belgium 5.3% (2011)

**Imports:** $639 billion (2011) Commodities: Manufactured goods, machinery, fuels, foodstuffs

Partners:Germany 12.5%, China 8.2%, Netherlands 7.1%, US 7%, France 5.7%, Belgium 4.8%, Norway 4.7% (2011)

Trading Partners: [|http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/feb/24/uk-trade-exports-imports#zoomed-picture] 66.2% - 15 to 64 years 16.5% - 65+ years
 * India
 * Russia
 * UAE
 * Australia || Has many resources and has many neighboring countries, therefore is well acquainted. ||
 * Social composition || 17.3% - 0 to 14 years

Population: 62,641,000 (2011) Population growth rate: 0.553% (2011) Net Migration Rate: 2.59 migrants/1000 population Rate of Urbanization: 0.7% annually, 80% of total population are urbanized

- Close 1:1 ratio for sex ratio of total population - 9.3% of GDP spent in healthcare (2009) - 5.5% of GDP spent of education (2007) - Majority white (English, Scottish, Welsh, etc.) ethnic group - Majority Christians of 71.6%, Muslim 2.7% (2011) - 65.1% turnout for the general election || Growth rate is slowly increasing in numbers, could eventually lead to overpopulation. For now, the age demographics are split quite well. Rate of urbanization is already quite high, and is slowly increasing due to how accessible the UK is. Overwhelming number of Christians in the UK. || 1805: Battle of Trafalgar 1833: Abolition of slavery 1914: The Great War 1919: Treaty of Versailles 1940: Winston Churchill as PM ||  ||
 * Recent history or history that defines current opinion and culture || 1763: Treaty of Paris (securing Canada, etc. for Crown)
 * Recent conflicts or unresolved border disputes. Any other disputes? || Nothing major disputes going on currently.

Chagos Archipelago (British Indian Ocean Territories)
 * Chagos island population was deported to Mauritius to make way for US military base
 * Previously sold the archipelago to the UK || Nothing major going on right now, doesn’t really affect anything. ||
 * Membership of various organizations || - UN security council
 * Commonwealth of Nations
 * G8
 * G20
 * NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
 * OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development)
 * WTO (World Trade Organization)
 * Council of Europe
 * OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe)
 * European Union || Many acquaintances, quite a powerful/influential country. ||
 * Treaties and Agreements || * The Lisbon Treaty: Ratified by all 27 member states to streamline EU institutions to make the states function better
 * Treaty of Maastricht: Created a structure capable of coping with closer integration and Monetary Union while giving national governments more say through an expanded European Council || For the most part, signing would make the country look better as it unifies them with other countries as well and helps them form more acquaintances. ||
 * Any interesting or fun facts about the country or culture || Uses pounds instead of euros, has special permission to do so. ||  ||