Why So Few People Live In Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland or Southwest England 

What?! Wales didn't experience industrialisation to any notable extent? South Wales was a key area of industrialisation and population growth in the 19th century, and by the turn of the 20th was the only area of Britain experiencing net inward migration!

A LOT of land In wales is uninhabitable due to the mountainous regions etc. And we have a large agricultural sector. Same goes for Scotland.

I didn't realise you meant the Hebrides! Might want to check that pronunciation. BTW as a Northern Irisher I would have included Belfast in the list of industrial cities - it was a vitally important industrial hub for shipbuilding, linen and rope making. You've presumably heard of Titanic!

Both Glasgow and Newcastle were huge shipbuilding centres.

Plymouth is not as big as Bristol which you didn't mention. To be honest, having grown up in the South West, I wouldn't call it ' relatively uninhabited' by European standards. Try living in rural Spain.

Nice video but Southwest England is actually well populated, with nearly 6 million people it has more people than Scotland.

I suggest you read Engels on the conditions in the UK during the industrial revolution. You'll change your mind on Glasgow. It developed equal to if not faster than Birmingham and Manchester. It was a absolute powerhouse.

I'm surprised you didn't mention the Highland clearances that massively uprooted Scotland's demographics and made half the country into the emptiest area in all of the British Isles.

Wales was a pioneer in iron technology, the iron works of Merthyr and Blaenavon were some of the largest in the UK. Also the first steam train to run on rails was in Merthyr Tydfil in 1804....

Central Belt of Scotland is heavily populated. It makes no sense to show the Bristol Channel's Welsh side as unpopulated but English side as populated. It's the Welsh side that's more urban

With regards to the movement of people from rural areas to the industrial cities- its also worth mentioning the "highland clearances" where landowners evicted people from the land to make room for livestock grazing

Also you forgot to mention the other two crown dependencies: The bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey

A couple corrections: The Isle of Man is highly autonomous financially but immigration policy to the island is aligned with the UK government and all arrivals from the UK to the IOM are treated as domestic. Secondly, the IOM is in a customs union with the UK , so there are no customs checks between the two jurisdictions

Living in Scotland my whole life I love how few people live here, it is a bit of a culture shock when I visit a big city like London though

I'm delighted to see Swansea / Abertawe mentioned, a much overlooked historic city and a beautiful part of the British Isles. 👍

Hebrides is pronounced Heb-ri -dees. Glasgow was at least as big a manufacturing area as Manchester . Shipbuilding alone was massive on the river Clyde in the 19th century 20% of the WORLDS ships were built on the Clyde . It was known as the second city of the Empire .

In 1981 the population of London was 6.7 million. Now it is officially 9.7 million but is believed to be much higher. That is an increase of 50%. Meanwhile there has not been an increase of 50% in facilities such as hospitals or trains. A similar trend is being seen in other cities. It will be interesting to see your update on this topic in a few years’ time.

In your analysis of the impact of geography on population distribution within the UK you omitted the fact that London and the SE of England are the points closest to Europe and in particular the wealthiest part of Europe stretching from Holland, Belgium, North France and across North Germany. The River Thames was and is an important gateway to Europe and to the Baltic and the Mediterranean. This is why London and the South-east have maintained their dominance since the Romans and other invaders arrived even through the period of Industrial growth in the Nineteenth Century which contributed to population movement and the growth of cities outside London.

With respect to you there is so many inaccuracies on this history on uk but good for you on trying 👌👌

Unfortunately we are a very small island with uncontrolled immigration effecting all our public services and housing.

Why are the North East and North West of England not spoken about, given their importance to the UK’s geography and story?

Home to just, 67 million people? That's the highest level ever and has grown enormously in just a few decades

Geoff, I hope videos but as a Brit I have so many issues with this video. Finally you draw a live basically over nearly all but the very north, southwest of England, and East Anglia and call this central England (it may look central when showing the whole of the UK, but it's not just central England you've shown in the shaded area. You've also basically included most of the big cities and excluded everywhere else and said most people live here, that's obvious!!! Secondly London isn't in central England, as you said later in the video it's in the South East, which is true, and this is the area most densely populated, and if the video been and why they UK population is mostly in the South East it would be a great video, but it isn't. Thirdly, more that we've established that London isn't in central England, what the English would call central England is the regions known as the West Midlands and the East Midlands. Birmingham is the biggest city in the West Midlands whilst cities like Nottingham, Derby, and Leicester are those in the East Midlands. The Midlands could extend as far south as Oxford but that's probably as far as you could go before you get into the South. Fourthly, Manchester is not in central England either, neither is Leeds (or Sheffield, which you called to mention, but should have), they are in the North, Manchester being in a region called the North West, Sheffield and Leeds being in a region called Yorkshire & the Humber (the Humber being the river estuary that the city of Hull sits upon). Lastly, and I can't believe you didn't bring up this when mentioning Northern Ireland, but the reason it had a greater number of protestants than other parts of Ireland is because many Scots and English (especially those from around the England-Scotland however reivers) were planted there under the reign of James II. Even with this plantation to make what was once the most Irish part of Ireland less Irish there was not much of a pro British majority (and anyone who points to a vote they had to remain part of the UK, only those offering their own property could vote, which meant a lot of the pro Irish population had no say). I love your channel and videos but I felt this one just hasn't been researched enough, and went on either another video I I've seen on this, that was equally inaccurate or just drawing lines on maps (or from statistics), and without context I see why this might cause a problem.

As a Scottish person, frankly, this is just nonsense. There are just under 6 million people in Scotland, which is perfectly normal for a country of that size. There are a dozen countries in Europe with populations smaller or equal to Scotland. England, conversely, is one of the most densely populated countries on Earth. It's two completely different situations.

When I lived and worked in Arizona, US, there was a little ghost town west of Phoenix named Swansea.

Nice video - I think the numbers for “Southwest England” are low because you’ve included Bristol and Gloucestershire as part of “Central England” (see map at 6:42), but these regions are usually considered to be in the Southwest. The traditional (ceremonial) counties of the Southwest are Bristol (460k pop), Gloucestershire (916k pop), Wiltshire (720k pop), Somerset (965k pop), Dorset (770k pop), Devon (1.2m pop) and Cornwall (568k pop). It’s only really Cornwall that’s particularly sparsely populated out of these, as the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Bristol and Somerset have a combined population that’s almost equal to that of all of Wales in a significantly smaller area (Glos, Somerset, Bristol and Wilts are 10,916 km2 with a pop of ~3.06m; compare that to Wales, which is 21,218km2 with a pop of ~3.1m). If you were to make a nation of the four ceremonial counties above, it would have a population density of about 280/km2, which would make it the 51st most dense country on the planet (the UK would drop to the 52nd spot, for context Japan is 42nd (326/km2), Pakistan is 46th (302/km2) and Vietnam is 48th (298/km2)). So as you can see, large parts of Southwest england are actually quite densely populated in comparison to the rest of the world.

Here in Scotland, we have a population of about 5.5 million, who mostly live in the central belt between Glasgow, Edinburgh, and up to Dundee, and then along the East coasts. The rest is mostly villages and towns scattered about (a very rough broad generalisation that not the complete story!) as it's mostly mountains/hills/moorland that's just not suitable for large settlements.

At 5:40 I think the pronunciation of "Hebrides" in this video could use some improvement.

No mention of the population impact of the Scottish Clearances?

Not sure if I'm missing something here but the North East is ignored in this documentary. For example the map at 9:30 talks about the biggest population centres outside central England, but skips over Newcastle with its 800,000+ population, not including it's twin city Gateshead

What you’ll notice about driving on the motorway/highway between the cities in the green region is how busy they are. Once you leave that region further towards northern England, Scotland, wales and south west England you notice how the traffic gradually dissipates as you go into lower population density regions.

Central Scotland between Glasgow and Edinburgh is very populated so is the very south of wales

You skipped right over the origin of Northern Ireland in the ulster plantation, and as a Scots Irish trouble maker I can not let it pass with out strenuous protest!!! 8-P

The Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey are crown dependencies with a similar status to the Isle of Man. In the Isle of Man the British monarch is the Lord of Mann (Elizabeth II still called herself “Lord of Mann” rather than Lady), whereas in the Channel Islands the monarch is technically the Duke of Normandy, but I believe people there usually just say “the king/queen”.

Missed out the North East of England. Newcastle metro area is 900,000 and if Sunderland is added in its 1.5 million. Also during the 19th century Glasgow was the 2nd city of the Empire

I think it’s really brave to discuss another country the way you have here with all the potential pitfalls like pronunciation. You may want to check the flag you’ve assigned to the UK and compare it to the fluttering ones you have in your pictures of The Mall in London. Personally I don’t care about flags and nations but some people do. It would be like leaving out a few stars on the US flag.

Good video. But the Uk is made up of four so-called countries, not kingdoms since there is only one kingdom which is united

It depends where you draw the lines. Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle and Liverpool are in the north of England, where I live. If you include those, the north of England has a population of 15m and is very well populated.

I used to think Scotland had very few people until I came to northern Finland. Finland has about the same number of people but is so much bigger.

Very interesting, Geoff! Thank you for this important and valuable lesson.

The worst thing you could say to my Scottish descent grandfather (McBurney) was “I loved Scotland. It was so bare!”. 300 years after being dispossessed and kicked out to Northern Ireland and then needing to leave to Australia because of threat of inter-communal violence, the wounds were still very very raw.

Hm, this is your first video that left me wanting. Why focus on the Isle of Man when other Crown Dependencies (and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland) have semi-autonomous parliamentary governments with control over local affairs?

The shot at 4:51, where you're saying about the low plains of the South and East of England, is actually a shot of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the much disputed border town in North East England. The bridge in the shot, just south of the train station in Berwick, is the Royal Border Bridge

Dude I think you'll find Bristol's population is much larger than Plymouth's

In the case of Northern ireland less people live in Ireland In general. The irish population peaked in the 1840s before huge numbers were killed in a famine and there was huge waves of emigration after that

Thank, Geoff. Always a great hang👍🏼

Wasn’t expecting an Isle of Man shout out! Nice vid

Thank you for your helpful and important Videos!

The official population is around 67 million but the for the real number you can add another 20 million

5:41 _HEB-ri-DEEZ_

Nice video and very interesting to know more details about these info

Very informative about the IOM.

Most people live in the bigger towns and cities for employment. Lots of the beautiful places are in the middle of nowhere, which is great if you can work from home or farming or even retirement. But for the reality of life it’s not feasible.

I remember at school (fifty+ years ago) that the area stretching from South East England (The Home Counties) across to North West England (Lancashire) where the majority of the UK's population live was described as coffin shaped.

just brilliant thanks

Thank you very interesting!

i wouldn't call the south west of England empty, the Population stands at 5.7 million which is a lot packed into such a small area, especially since it has 2 large Nation parks. i live in Devon and there is cities towns and thousands of villages everywhere.

You left out one crucial factor of today's spread, regarding job opportunities. There has been very little investment and support for the North and West, especially for Scotland by the UK parliament over the course of centuries, especially by The Conservative Party. Thatcher in particular shut down most of what industry did previously exist.

You have some of the best geography videos on the web

You're the best teacher 😊❤️

Even the apparently lower population areas of SW, E and North are fairly populated excepting the moors/national parks where development is limited. It would be constructive to point out that England/UK's economic policy is heavily skewed from a balanced economy of sectors towards a financialization-service orientated economy eg selling off manufacturing, minimal investment in agriculture (it's generally kept on life-support and adopting the mega-farm model of the US vs the family small farm model of a true rural area) as well as selling off the Fisheries to the EU for another example. Hence density of population around urban areas, construction and development and thus incredibly high population density in that highlighted region. For short-term growth it's worked but for long-term sustainability it's a very poor strategic choice.

I live in Southwest London I think there are reasons choose to settle in Soutj East coast At the end of thr day the country is still tethered to the continent (in an on again off again way) so it makes sense for ppl to base where they can interact with tje continent closesr Also there is the westher which is a fair milder than in up north and more daylight during winter Not to mention the plains that are more suitable to agriculture These sorts of things compound over centuries

Nice video! You forgot to mention the Channel Islands.

5:34 when “shire” is at the end of a county name it’s not pronounce like “tire” but instead like “shear”

So glad your covering topics within Britain 🇬🇧❤️

Those areas are still fairly dense compared to most of the land in the US. You just see rural areas with farms, small towns, villages and national parks. There are also several reasonably large cities in the areas you are talking about

Good vid, however you missed North east England. The metro areas of Newcastle, Sunderland, Durham and middlesbourgh roughly equating to 3 million. Plus it exsists within isolation, see the night time satalite map of the area

That's why Scotland's population is always at a steadfast 5 million. Imagine trying to flatten a land full of hills and mountains, Lochs and rocks.

A few inaccuracies in this. In terms of industrialisation, South Wales and the Central Belt of Scotland are real powerhouses, the British Empire relied on Welsh coal and Scottish ships. The Welsh Valleys lost population but are still significant. And Bristol was missed out as a major urban centre, it is by far the biggest city in the South West and is bigger than Cardiff.

Northern Ireland was carved out in the shape it is in order to ensure a permanent Protestant majority. There were so many Protestants there as they were planted there mainly from Scotland in the 1600s in an attempt to take over. As of the most recent census 2022 there are now more Catholics than Protestants in Northern Ireland. Not that it is even a religious conflict now but it’s usually a good market for estimating nationalists v unionists.

7:45... completely wrong, Glasgow was dubbed "Second city of the empire", it was an industrial power house and built many of the Royal Navy's warships

Also worth looking at a Sunshine Hours Map and Rain Maps for the UK

Good video. I have a correction. Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England aren't different kingdoms, they are constituent countries of the UK, which is a country in the normal sense of the word.

You can add the Highland Clearances to the depopulation of Scotland, where wealthy landowners replaced tenant farmers with sheep (and grouse shooting etc.) This led to a lot of Scottish people migrating to North America and England.

As you mentioned Isle of Man, I'm surprised you didn't mention the Channel Islands

That was a great video but I was expecting you to go into the rocky/mountainous geography of Scotland. Surely that has something to do with the disparity in population?

Glasgow was the major industrial city in Scotland and one of the major shipbuilding and port cities

Saying that Wales wasn't as industrialised as the Midlands is completely incorrect. The coal fields of South Wales were vast and of primary significance. Iron production, centred in Merthyr Tydfil (again South Wales), was a global leader, not just important within the UK. North Wales had its slate mining, and textiles too. Baffling that such a well-produced video could be so incorrect. The only justification might be that not all of Wales was industrialised to the same degree. For example, Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Powys remained largely rural, and expreienced the population drain mentioned. But to apply this to the whole of Wales is simply wrong.

Interesting - Economics Explained did a video that talked about London a lot in the past few days.

Great video, in England if you didn't check your change we sometimes used to get Isle of Man coins, then when you tried to spend them again nobody would except them!

The Anglo-Saxons also settled in lowland Scotland. Wales was not a distinct country (but several kingdoms) -

There are quite a lot of holes and misunderstandings here. These empty 'spaces' are not empty at all, e.g. there are 3 million people in Wales! It's certainly not a kingdom either. Wales also had a huge impact on the industrial revolution, millions of tons of coal were dug from the South Wales Valleys, the iron industry began in Merthyr Tydfil and the steel industry followed, slate was produced right accross North Wales and up to World War 1 Cardiff (capital of Wales) was the biggest coal exporting port in the world!

Interesting pronunciation of Hebrides! And you missed some big conurbations like Newcastle and Bristol. But good video non the less!,

What about Cumbria and north east England? ( Newcastle,for instance, isn’t mentioned)

As one of those Brythonnic tribes pushed out by the invaders I get annoyed that Kernow has become merely a Duchy and devolved council with special status under national government.

An excellent and well-researched video. The British Isles have an incredible history, and I was raised near Glasgow in Scotland. It is incidentally pronounced ‘Glaz-go’. Living now in Canada, but it’s nice to be reminded of the mother country! ❤

You haven't mentioned the Channel Isles. They also have a separate status similiar to the Isle of Man

I have a friend in Guernsey and it's an interesting island too

I was born in London, but I am so happy not to be living there now. Yorkshire is better in every way mainly because there are less people.

Birmingham is very considerably larger than Manchester ( Manchester is 553,230 population of Birmingham is 1,149,000 ). Although the county area of " Greater Manchester " is larger than Birmingham if you do the same thing and count the local county of which Birmingham is the center ( West Midlands ) then Birmingham is larger at 2,928,000 population against Greater Manchester's 2,882,000 population. But Manchester is a much smaller city.

Scot here, wanted to tell you that the Hebrides is pronounced like “Hehb-reh-days/dees and glasgow is like Glaz-go, hope this helps!

Curiouser and curiouser.

I love your videos but they each include a number of baffling errors and mispronunciations - it makes me wonder if there are additional errors I just don't recognize. Might want to more tightly edit your scripts, and double check your pronunciation. It'll make your videos more informative, more professional, and more durable.

The UK is not made up of "four separate kingdoms"... It's one kingdom and four separate constituent countries

love these vids

Am looking at peel castle from the isle of man part as i watch this video

Suspect that the unpopulated regions want to stay that way, at least in modern times. Property is not affordable, taxes are very high and non-residents pay extra taxes. On top of that, onerous regulation makes it extremely difficult to purchase anything but existing homes. A lot of these "unpopulated" regions might be quickly populated if there were not non-geographic barriers to population.

I'm not sure how I feel about Bristol not being included in the south west region, its the capital of the west country after all 😂

The U.K. has for many decades had governments that are only interested in spending on infrastructure in and around London. The recently completed Elizabeth Line on the London Underground cost almost £20 billion for an already well-served population. The proposed HS2 rail line to link the North of England with London was recently cancelled due to cost. Although the southern section from London to Birmingham will be completed.The rest of the country still relies on Victorian built railways that are unreliable and crumbling. Without a proper NATIONAL infrastructure population spread will not occur. Nowadays it is government policies and economics that restrict population spread.

Love living in Wales, I can be in the centre of its capital in under 20 minutes, or in the same time, out in the hills and mountains where I often walk all day and not meet a single soul.