Geography - UK in the 21st century

UK relief

High land in the north and west (the Scottish Highlands, Lake District, Pennines and Welsh mountains) on old hard rocks, and low land in the south and east (the Fens, East Anglia, the London Basin) on young soft rocks. Highest point Ben Nevis at 1,345 m, lowest the Fens below sea level.

UK rainfall pattern

Wettest in the north and west (over 2,000 mm a year in the Lake District and Scottish Highlands, up to 3,000 mm and more on the mountains) because moist south-westerly winds rise over the hills (relief rainfall). Driest in the east and south-east (under 600 mm in East Anglia and the Thames estuary), which lie in the rain shadow.

UK population density

About 280 people per km² overall (England about 430, Scotland about 70). Densest in London (over 5,500 per km²), the West Midlands, Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and the central belt of Scotland. Sparsest in the Scottish Highlands (under 10 per km²), mid-Wales, the Pennines and Northumberland.

UK land use

About 70% farmland (arable in the drier, flatter east, pasture in the wetter west and the uplands), about 13% woodland, around 8% built-up (higher in England), with the rest moorland, water and other uses. Green belts restrict building around the major cities.

Issue: water stress

Most rain falls in the north and west but most people live in the drier south-east, so London and the south-east are classed as seriously water-stressed. Demand is rising with population and climate change brings drier summers (hosepipe bans in 2018, 2022 and 2025). Responses: new reservoirs (Abingdon is planned), water transfers, leak reduction, metering and a desalination plant on the Thames.

Issue: housing shortage

House building has lagged behind the growth in households for decades, so prices (about £290,000 on average and over £500,000 in London) are around 8 times average earnings and 1.3 million households are on social housing waiting lists. The government target is 300,000 homes a year (raised to 370,000 in 2024), with pressure to build on green belt and brownfield land and arguments over new towns and infrastructure.

UK population size and growth

About 59 million in 2001, 63 million in 2011, 67 million in 2021 and around 69 million today. Growth since 2001 has come mainly from net migration (about 60%) rather than natural increase, because birth rates have fallen.

UK birth and death rates

A birth rate of about 10 per 1,000 (the fertility rate fell to 1.44 in 2023, the lowest ever recorded) and a death rate of about 9–10 per 1,000, so natural increase is close to zero.

Demographic Transition Model (DTM)

Shows how birth and death rates change as a country develops. Stage 1: both high and fluctuating (pre-industrial). Stage 2: death rate falls, rapid growth (Ethiopia in the 1970s). Stage 3: birth rate falls (India today). Stage 4: both low and stable (UK, USA). Stage 5: birth rate below death rate so the population falls without migration (Japan, Italy, Germany).

The UK’s position on the DTM

Stage 4 moving towards stage 5: low birth and death rates, slow natural growth and an ageing population, with immigration keeping the total rising. Its population pyramid is ‘beehive’ shaped – a narrow base, a bulge of people in their 50s and 60s (the baby boomers) and a widening top.

Population pyramid

A bar graph showing the number or percentage of males and females in each age group. A wide base means a high birth rate (LIDC), a narrow base with a wide top means an ageing population (AC). Migration shows as a bulge of young adults.

The UK’s ageing population

About 19% of the population (12.7 million people) are over 65, up from 16% in 2001, and the number over 85 is expected to double by 2045. The median age has risen to about 40.

Causes of the ageing population

Longer life expectancy (about 79 for men and 83 for women) through better healthcare, diet and safer work / the large ‘baby boomer’ generation born 1946–64 reaching retirement / low birth rates since the 1970s, so there are fewer young people.

Effects of the ageing population

Economic: the state pension is the biggest welfare cost (over £120 billion a year), more NHS and social care spending, fewer workers paying tax (a rising dependency ratio) and labour shortages. Social: pressure on hospitals and care homes, more people living alone, but also the ‘grey pound’, volunteering, grandparents providing childcare and experience kept in the workforce.

Spatial distribution of the ageing population

Highest proportions in coastal and rural retirement areas: North Norfolk (one in three residents over 65), Rother and the south coast, Christchurch in Dorset, the Isle of Wight, Devon, Cornwall and north Wales. Lowest in inner London boroughs (Tower Hamlets about 6%) and university cities, because young people move there for work and study.

Responses to the ageing population

Raising the state pension age (66 now, 67 by 2028 and 68 later) / automatic enrolment in workplace pensions since 2012 / encouraging immigration of working-age people / more NHS and social care funding and ‘ageing well’ programmes / adapting housing (bungalows, retirement villages, care homes) / winter fuel payments and free bus passes.

Ageing population example: Christchurch, Dorset

A coastal town where about 30% of residents are over 65, one of the highest proportions in the UK, drawn by the mild climate, harbour and beaches. Effects: many care homes and retirement flats, pressure on the local hospital and GPs, labour shortages, but a strong economy of services for the elderly and active volunteering.

UK migration since 2001

Net migration (immigrants minus emigrants) rose from about 170,000 a year in the early 2000s to over 300,000 after 2014 and a record of over 900,000 in 2023 before falling to around 430,000 in 2024. The main sources changed from the EU (Poland after the 2004 enlargement) to non-EU countries (India, Nigeria, China, Pakistan, Ukraine, Hong Kong) after Brexit ended free movement in 2021.

Impacts of migration on the UK

Positive: fills jobs in farming, food processing, care and the NHS (about one in five NHS staff were born abroad), migrants are mainly young workers who pay taxes, add cultural diversity and keep the population growing. Negative: pressure on housing, schools and services in some towns, competition for low-paid work, and political tension that fed the 2016 Brexit vote.

Named place case study: Boston, Lincolnshire – population change since 2001

A market town of about 70,000 people in the fenland farming area. Its population grew by about 16% between 2001 and 2011 – the fastest growth in England outside London – largely from migrants from Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Romania coming to work in the fields and food-packing factories after 2004.

Boston – ethnic diversity

In 2001 about 98% of residents were White British. By 2011 more than one in ten had been born in the new EU states and by 2021 nearly a quarter of residents were born abroad – the highest proportion of eastern European residents of any English district. Polish and Lithuanian shops, churches and services appeared in the town centre.

Boston – effects of the change

Migrants filled essential farm and factory jobs and opened businesses, but there was pressure on housing (houses in multiple occupation), GP surgeries and school places, some tension and crime, and in 2016 Boston recorded the highest Leave vote in the referendum (75.6%). The population structure became younger, with more births.

Alternative named-place note

If your school studied a different place (such as Newham in London, Leicester, Slough or Bradford), learn that one – the question asks how the population structure and ethnic diversity of a named place have changed since 2001.

UK economy: changing employment sectors

Primary (farming, fishing, mining) is now about 1% of jobs, secondary (manufacturing) fell from about 25% of jobs in the 1970s to about 8%, tertiary (services such as retail, finance, health and education) is over 80%, and quaternary (research, IT, biotech, media) is growing fastest.

Deindustrialisation

The decline of manufacturing since the 1970s because of cheaper production abroad (China, India), automation, outdated factories and the loss of coal, steel and shipbuilding. Examples: the last deep coal mine, Kellingley, closed in 2015, Port Talbot’s blast furnaces shut in 2024, and car plants such as Longbridge closed. It left high unemployment and derelict land in northern and Midlands towns.

Political priorities and the economy since 2001

Growth of the City of London and finance before the 2008 financial crisis, then austerity (public spending cuts from 2010), the Northern Powerhouse (2014) and Levelling Up (from 2019) to narrow the north–south gap, devolution to metro mayors, Brexit (the 2016 vote, leaving the EU in 2020), net zero by 2050 with growth in green jobs, and HS2 (its northern leg cancelled in 2023).

Changing working hours and patterns

More part-time work (about a quarter of jobs), flexible and zero-hours contracts (about 1 million people), self-employment and the ‘gig economy’ (Uber, Deliveroo), working from home since Covid (over a quarter of workers hybrid), more women in work (over 70%), average full-time hours of about 37 a week and people working later in life.

The north–south divide

London and the south-east have the highest productivity, wages (output per head is about £65,000 in London against £27,000 in the north-east), house prices and life expectancy, while the north and Midlands have more deprivation, lower pay and poorer health, a legacy of deindustrialisation. Scotland’s central belt and cities such as Manchester and Leeds are exceptions.

Economic hub

A place that is a focal point for the economy of its area – part of a city (London’s financial district), a whole city (Manchester) or a region (Silicon Fen around Cambridge).

Pattern of core UK economic hubs

London (finance, media, government, technology) dominates. Other hubs: Cambridge (science and technology), Oxford (research), Reading and the M4 corridor (IT), Manchester (media at MediaCityUK, finance), Leeds (finance, legal), Birmingham (business services), Edinburgh (finance), Aberdeen (oil and gas), Sheffield (advanced manufacturing), Newcastle and Bristol (aerospace, creative industries). Most lie in the south-east or in the big cities.

Economic hub case study: Cambridge (Silicon Fen) – significance

A university city of about 150,000 people 80 km north of London. The ‘Cambridge cluster’ has over 5,000 knowledge-intensive firms employing around 70,000 people in biotech, software, electronics and pharmaceuticals, with the highest rate of patents per head in the UK. Cambridge Science Park (1970) was the first in Europe.

Cambridge – changes

Growth of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus around Addenbrooke’s Hospital with AstraZeneca’s £1 billion global headquarters (2021), research offices for Microsoft, Apple, Amazon and Google, ARM (the chip designer sold for £24 billion in 2016), a new station (Cambridge North, 2017), the guided busway (2011), new suburbs at Eddington and Northstowe and government plans for up to 150,000 more homes by 2050.

Cambridge – why it grew

A world-class university and research institutes generating spin-out companies, a skilled workforce, venture capital, fast rail to London (under an hour), nearby Stansted Airport, an attractive environment and clustering – firms gain from being near each other and sharing staff and ideas.

Cambridge – significance to its region and the UK

Drives the economy of East Anglia and the Oxford–Cambridge Arc, supplies jobs for commuters from Peterborough to Ely, generates tens of billions of pounds of output a year and produces exports in life sciences and technology that help the UK compete globally. Problems: house prices among the highest outside London, congestion, water shortages and pressure on the surrounding countryside.

UK political role: international organisations

A permanent member of the UN Security Council (with a veto), a founder member of NATO (1949), a member of the G7 and G20, head of the Commonwealth (56 members), in the EU from 1973 to 2020, and a member of the WTO, IMF and World Bank. It has nuclear weapons and the fifth or sixth largest economy in the world.

The UK’s role in one global conflict: Russia’s war on Ukraine (from 2022)

Through NATO: sent troops to strengthen the eastern flank in Estonia and Poland, trained over 50,000 Ukrainian soldiers in Britain (Operation Interflex), supplied Challenger 2 tanks, Storm Shadow missiles and air defence, with about £3 billion of military aid a year. Through the UN: condemned the invasion in the General Assembly and Security Council. Through the G7 and alongside the EU: sanctions on over 2,000 Russian individuals and companies, a ban on Russian oil and frozen assets. Hosted about 200,000 refugees under Homes for Ukraine and in 2025 led the ‘coalition of the willing’ planning security guarantees.

Alternative conflict note

If your school studied the UK in Afghanistan (NATO’s ISAF mission 2001–2014, 457 UK deaths), Iraq (the 2003 invasion without clear UN authority), Syria (air strikes on ISIS from 2015 with the US-led coalition) or Libya (NATO, 2011), learn that one using the same structure: which organisations, what the UK did and how significant its role was.

Is the UK losing political significance?

Yes: a smaller economy and military than the USA or China, it has left the EU, cut aid from 0.7% to 0.5% of national income (0.3% by 2027), and India and China have risen. No: still on the Security Council, a leading NATO power, one of the largest aid donors, with large diplomatic and intelligence networks and strong soft power.

UK media exports: television

The BBC reaches about 450 million people a week worldwide (the World Service broadcasts in over 40 languages). Programmes and formats sold abroad include Doctor Who, Sherlock, Downton Abbey (sold to over 220 territories), Peppa Pig, Top Gear, The Great British Bake Off, Strictly Come Dancing (as Dancing with the Stars) and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. TV exports earn over £1.5 billion a year.

UK media exports: film

Harry Potter (about US$7.7 billion at the box office, filmed at Leavesden), James Bond, Paddington, Wallace and Gromit, Bridget Jones and the films of Danny Boyle and Christopher Nolan. UK studios (Pinewood, Shepperton, Leavesden) host Star Wars and Marvel productions worth over £5 billion a year of spending.

UK media exports: music and other culture

The Beatles, Adele, Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, Harry Styles and Dua Lipa – UK music exports earn about £800 million a year. The Premier League is broadcast in about 190 countries to over 3 billion viewers. Glastonbury, the West End, Shakespeare, the English language and video games (Grand Theft Auto is made in Edinburgh).

Global influence of UK media

Spreads the English language, British values and brands (soft power), attracts tourists (the Harry Potter studio tour, Downton’s Highclere Castle), earns export income and shapes how other countries see Britain. The UK regularly ranks in the top three of global soft power indexes.

Contribution of ethnic groups to UK culture: food

Curry from South Asian migrants (chicken tikka masala was invented in Britain, there are about 12,000 curry houses and Birmingham created the balti), Chinese takeaways, Italian pizza and pasta, Caribbean jerk chicken and the food of the Notting Hill Carnival, Turkish kebabs, Polish shops and African and Caribbean produce in street markets. Food brought by migrants is now central to British eating out and supermarket ranges.

Ethnic diversity of the UK (2021 census)

England and Wales: 81.7% white (74.4% White British), 9.3% Asian, 4.0% Black, 2.9% mixed and 2.1% other. One in six people (10 million) were born outside the UK. London is the most diverse, with about 40% of residents born abroad and over 300 languages spoken. Christianity fell below half (46%) and ‘no religion’ rose to 37%.

Alternative contribution note

If your school chose media (such as Bollywood films and Asian radio, grime and reggae in UK music, or Black British film and TV) or fashion (Caribbean and African prints, South Asian designers, streetwear) instead of food, learn that example.