The United Kingdom is made up of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The UK is a developed country and has the world’s sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and seventh-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It was the world’s first industrialised country and the world’s foremost power during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The UK remains a great power with leading economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence. It is a recognised nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks third or fourth in the world.

The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946; it is also a member state of the European Union, the Commonwealth of Nations, the G8, the G20, the OECD, the Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization, and NATO.

Some attractive stats are:

• Centrally located making European and Worldwide travel easy and accessible
• Based on market exchange rates the UK is today the sixth-largest economy in the world and the third-largest in Europe after Germany and France
• The UK’s official language is English
• The United Kingdom has ranked in the top 10 places to live from the Quality of Life Index 2011
• The universities of England include some of the top universities in the world; the University of Cambridge, University College London, the University of Oxford and Imperial College London are all ranked in the global top 10 in the 2010 QS World University Rankings, with Cambridge ranked first.
• Public healthcare is provided to all UK permanent residents and is free at the point of need, being paid for from general taxation