Wales

Wales Cymru (Welsh)
Flag Royal Badge
Motto: "Cymru am byth" (Welsh) "Wales Forever"[1]
Anthem: "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau" "Land of My Fathers"
Location of  Wales  (dark green) – on the European continent  (green & dark grey) – in the United Kingdom  (green)
Status	Country
Capital and largest city	Cardiff 51°29′N 3°11′W / 51.483°N 3.183°W / 51.483; -3.183 52°18′N 3°36′W / 52.3°N 3.6°W / 52.3; -3.6
Official languages	Welsh English
Demonym(s)	Welsh
Sovereign state Legal jurisdiction	United Kingdom England and Wales
Government	Devolved parliamentary legislature within parliamentary constitutional monarchy
• Monarch	Charles III
• First Minister	Vaughan Gething
Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Secretary of State	David Davies
• House of Commons	40 MPs (of 650)
Legislature	Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament
Formation
• Unification by Gruffydd ap Llywelyn	1057[2]
• Statute of Rhuddlan[3]	3 March 1284
• Laws in Wales Act[4]	1543
• Devolution[5]	31 July 1998
Area
• Total	20,779 km2 (8,023 sq mi)
Population
• 2019 estimate	3,153,000[6]
• 2011 census	3,063,456[7]
• Density	148/km2 (383.3/sq mi)
GVA	2018[8] estimate
• Total	£75 billion ($96B)
• Per capita	£23,900 ($31884)
HDI (2018)	0.883[9] very high
Currency	Pound sterling (GBP; £)
Time zone	UTC (Greenwich Mean Time)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (British Summer Time)
Date format	dd/mm/yyyy (AD)
Driving side	left
Calling code	+44
ISO 3166 code	GB-WLS
Internet TLD	.wales .cymru [f]
Website wales.com

Wales (/ˈweɪlz/ (listen); Welsh: Cymru [ˈkəm.rɨ] (come-ree)) is one of the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom. It is west of England, and east of the Irish Sea and Ireland.

Wales is one of the Celtic areas of Britain. The native people of Wales, the Welsh, have their own culture and traditions. They have their own Celtic language, Welsh. Not all Welsh people can speak Welsh, and it is primarily spoken in North Wales. It is mandatory for all children until the age of 16 to learn Welsh in schools. Virtually all Welsh people can speak English. Most speak only English. The Welsh language is an official language alongside English, and has equal official status.

Three million people live in Wales. Most of them live in the southern and southeastern parts of the country. In this area is the capital and largest city of Wales, Cardiff, and the next largest city, Swansea. Wales has an ageing population and falling birth rates. The economy is suffering because there are not enough people of working age. Gross value added per head in Wales — a measure of how much money is generated through goods produced and services delivered — is 74%^[10] of the UK average.

1. ↑ "Cymru am byth! The meaning behind the Welsh motto". WalesOnline. 6 February 2015. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
2. ↑ Cite error: The named reference Wales Hist 100 was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).
3. ↑ "Statute of Rhuddlan". Oxford Reference. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
4. ↑ "Laws in Wales Act 1535 (repealed 21.12.1993)". legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
5. ↑ "Government of Wales Act 1998". legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
6. ↑ "Mid year estimates of the population". gov.wales. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
7. ↑ "Population estimates for the UK, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland – Office for National Statistics". www.ons.gov.uk.
8. ↑ "Regional economic activity by gross value: UK 1998 to 2018". Office for National Statistics. 12 December 2018. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
9. ↑ "Sub-national HDI – Area Database – Global Data Lab". hdi.globaldatalab.org. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
10. ↑ "How to help Wales's economy after Mark Drakeford's exit". www.ft.com. Retrieved 2023-12-14.