Population. Plant Life

5. Population

The population of the UK is over 58 million people (by 1999). The UK ranks 16^th in the world in size of population and 76^th in size of area. The population lives mostly in towns and cities and their suburbs. Four out of every five people live in towns.

The distribution of the population is rather uneven. Over 46 million people live in England, a little over 5 million live in Scotland, over 3 million live in Wales and about 1,5 million - in Northern Ireland. Although Britain is densely populated, there are large areas which contain fewer than 100 people per square km (for example, most of the mountainous parts of the UK including much of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). Densities of more than 500 people per square km are only found in the main industrial areas (such as the Midlands and the South-East England). London's population is 7 million. There are only 5 cities which populations are over 500,000, although Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle also exceed this figure if neighbouring towns are included.

The UK is inhabited by the English, the Scottish, the Welsh, and the Northern Irish, who constitute the British nation. In general, the British are the descendants of different peoples who settled in the British Isles at different times.

7. Plant Life

The mild climate, ample rain, and long growing season in Britain support a great variety of plants, which grow exceptionally well. Most of Britain was once covered with thick, forests in which oak trees predominated. (Deciduous trees are those that lose their leaves every year.) The impact of centuries of dense human population has massively altered the flora of Britain, and only tiny remnants of these forests remain today. Although 10 percent of Britain is still forested, most of this area consists of commercially planted, fast-growing forests in Wales and northeastern Scotland.

Forests were unable to establish themselves in the poorer soils of the mountains, wetlands and moorlands. The plants common to these wilder areas are heather, gorse, peat moss, rowan, and bilberry. These regions have been altered by heavy grazing of livestock and by controlled burning. Controlled burning creates environments suitable for game birds, which feed on the shoots of the new plants that spring up after the older plants are burned away. Some wetland areas have been subjected to massive draining efforts for hundreds of years and are now covered by towns and farmland.

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