kids encyclopedia robot

British people facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Quick facts for kids
British people
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg
Total population
Regions with significant populations
 United Kingdom 57,678,000
 United States
  • 34,275,567
  • 678,000
 Australia
  • 10,764,870
  • 1,300,000
 Canada
  • 10,753,945
  • 609,000
 New Zealand
  • 2,425,278
  • 217,000
 South Africa
  • 1,603,575
  • 750,000
 Chile 700,000
 France 400,000
 Ireland 291,000
 Argentina 250,000
United Kingdom British Overseas Territories 247,899
 United Arab Emirates 240,000
 Spain 236,669
 Peru 150,000
 Germany 115,000
 Pakistan 79,447
 Cyprus 59,000
 Thailand 51,000
 Singapore 45,000
 Switzerland 45,000
 Netherlands 44,000
 Israel 44,000
 Portugal 41,000
 Sweden 39,989
 Italy
  • 26,000
  • 39,177
 Norway 34,279
 Turkey 34,000
 India 32,000
 Kenya 29,000
 Belgium 28,000
 Barbados 27,000
 Saudi Arabia 26,000
 Jamaica 25,000
 Trinidad and Tobago 25,000
 Japan 23,000
 Hong Kong
  • 19,405
  • 3,400,000
  • 33,733
 Greece 18,000
 Finland 16,732
 Hungary 9,000
Languages
Religion

The British people, or Britons, are the citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the British Overseas Territories, and the Crown dependencies.

When used in a historical context, "British" or "Britons" can refer to the Celtic Britons, the indigenous inhabitants of Great Britain and Brittany, whose surviving members are the modern Welsh people, Cornish people, and Bretons. It also refers to citizens of the former British Empire, who settled in the country prior to 1973, and hold neither UK citizenship or nationality.

The Union of the Crowns in 1603 and the creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 triggered a sense of British national identity.

The notion of Britishness and a shared British identity was forged during the 18th century and early 19th century when Britain engaged in several global conflicts with France, and developed further during the Victorian era. The complex history of the formation of the United Kingdom created a "particular sense of nationhood and belonging" in Great Britain.

Modern Britons are descended mainly from the varied ethnic groups that settled in Great Britain in and before the 11th century: Prehistoric, Brittonic, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Normans. Since 1922 and earlier, there has been immigration to the United Kingdom by people from what is now the Republic of Ireland, the Commonwealth, mainland Europe and elsewhere; they and their descendants are mostly British citizens, with some assuming a British, dual or hyphenated identity. This includes the groups black British and Asian British people, which constitute around 10% of the British population.

The British are a diverse, multinational, multicultural and multilingual society, with "strong regional accents, expressions and identities".

The population of the UK stands at around 66 million, with a British diaspora of around 140 million concentrated in the United States, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, with smaller concentrations in the Republic of Ireland, Chile, South Africa, and parts of the Caribbean.

Images for kids

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Pueblo británico para niños

kids search engine
British people Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.