Chapter 2　Population of the United Kingdom

The estimated population in the United Kingdom was 62，026，000in 2010.There were about 52million（83.8%）people in England，3million（4.8%）in Wales，5.2million（8.4%）in Scotland，and 1.8million（3.0%）in Northern Ireland.English is the official language，although there are still some people speaking Welsh or Scottish Gaelic.In normal times the British people take their national divisions very much for granted and are inclined to think of themselves，in the first instance，not as“Briton”or“Britishers”，but as the English or the Scots，the Welsh or the Irish.In general，however，the similarities among them are more numerous than the differences and serve to give the people a character definitely identifiable as the British.