A Short Guide to the National Parks of Great Britain

Where are the National Parks of Great Britain?

National Parks aim both to protect the outstanding countryside within their boundaries and to provide opportunities for outside recreation for their many thousands of visitors each year.

There are seven National Parks in England: Dartmoor, Exmoor, Lake District, North York Moors, Northumberland, the Peak District and the Yorkshire Dales.

There are three National Parks in Wales: Snowdonia, Brecon Beacons and the Pembrokeshire Coast that together account for about 20 percent of the total land area.

In Scotland there are four regional Parks - Loch Lomond, Fife, Clyde Muirsbrief, Pentland Hills - and 40 national Scenic Areas plus 77 national nature reserves

Religions in Britain

Which religions are represented in Britain?

Everyone in Britain has the right to religious freedom. Britain is predominantly Christian - one British citizen in 10 is a member of the Roman Catholic Church and there are 1.7 million members of the Presbyterian Chruch - the established church in Scotland. In Northern Ireland, about half the people regard themselves as Protestants and nearly 40 per cent as Roman Catholics

In Wales, the Anglican church was disestablished in 1920. This means that there i so one officially established church, but Methodistm and Baptism are the two most widespread religions.

Britain has one of the largest Muslim communities in Western Europe, estimated around 1.5 millon people, with over 600 mosques and prayer centres.

The Sikh community in Britain comprises between 400,000 and 500,000 people, with the largest groups of Sikhs concentrated in Greater London.

The Hindu community in Britain accounts for a further 320,000 people.

Ethnic minorities in Britain

Which are Britain's largest ethnic minorities groups?

The largest ethnic minorities in Britain are those of Caribbean or African descent (875,000 people). The next largest ethnic groups are Indians (850,000 people) and Pakistani and Bangladeshis (650,000 people). Overal, ethnic minority groups represent just under 6 per cent of the population of Great Britan. The ethnic population has evolved from the substantial immigration of people from former British colonies in the Caribbean and South Asian sub-continent during the 1950s and 1960s. In addition, in the 1970s Britain admitted some 28,000 Asians expelled from Uganda and some 22,000 refugees from South East Asia.

Considerable numbers of Chinese, Italians, Greek and Turkish Cypriots, Poles, Australians, New Zealanders and people from the United States and Canada are also resident in Britain.