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United Kingdom
Official language: English (de facto)
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Demographics of United Kingdom
At the most recent census in 2001, the total population of the United Kingdom was 58,789,194, the third largest in the European Union, the fifth largest in the Commonwealth and the twenty-first largest in the world. According to mid-2006 estimates by the Office for National Statistics, the distribution is as follow: England 50,762,900 (83.8%), Scotland 5,116,900 (8.4%), Wales 2,965,900 (4.9%) and Northern Ireland 1,741,600 (2.9%).
Languages
The United Kingdom has no official language. The dominant language, spoken as a first language by 95% of the population is English. Scots is spoken by around 1.5 million people in Scotland and 30,000 in Northern Ireland, where it is called Ulster Scots, though this is often exaggerated. Welsh is spoken by around 610,000 people. Scottish Gaelic is spoken by about 60,000 speakers, mostly in Scotland. Cornish is spoken by around 2,500 people. Irish is spoken by about 106,844 speakers in Northern Ireland. The Polish minority in the United Kingdom estimated over 600,000 people speak mostly Polish language at homes, Polish Britons are mainly Polish-born immigrants to the UK, although many are those who settled in Britain after the second world war and their decendants.
National Institutions for Language of United Kingdom
British Council
Tony Jones, Director
Research and Consultancy
English and Exams
Bridgewater House
58 Whitworth Street , Manchester M1 6BB
United Kingdom
+44-161-957 7698
Tony.Jones@britishcouncil.org
Oxford English Dictionary
John Simpson, Chief Editor
Oxford English Dictionary
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP
+44-1865-353728
john.simpson@oup.com
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