Where it is
England is perhaps the country most people first think of when they think of the United Kingdom. It borders both Scotland and Wales and almost 50 million people live in there, which is over 80% of the UK’s total population.

Major cities include London (the capital), Birmingham, Sheffield, Leeds, Newcastle, and Manchester. London is one of the most well-known cities in the world and for many is representative of the whole of England, if not the whole of the UK.

Other icons include football, actors Jude Law and Kate Winslet, Bridget Jones, pubs and beer. But for most these represent the whole of the UK, not just England.

Indistinct identity?
Many of the people in our survey, either English by birth or now living here, commented that it was very difficult to distinguish between English and British culture and identity. People found that they often identify more with other things than with England as a country. These other things include: the place or region in which they live, whether it be a major city or one of the English counties such as Yorkshire, Devon or Northumberland; the UK as a whole; or the religious or ethnic community they are from.  

Language activities: read all the information about England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, which can be accessed from the Living in the UK home page, and then do comparison activity (1) and comparison activity (2), which look at different icons and typical things from the four regions.