How old is the UK?

Answer 1

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Irelandformally came into existence on April 12th 1922, when the Anglo-Irish Treaty was enacted. However, the modern nation-state generally takes its date of foundation to be May 1st 1707, which was when the Kingdom of Great Britain came into existence, formed from the Kingdom of England (created in 927) and the Kingdom of Scotland (created in 843). In 1800, the Kingdom legally acquired the entirety of Ireland, becoming the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until 1922, when the southern part of Ireland became an independent nation-state.

Ergo, most would agree that the modern UK is 304 years old as of May 1st 2011 - all though it only became the "United Kingdom" 211 years ago, and has only legally existed under its full modern name for 89 years. England and Scotland have existed as distinct and united political entities for 1,084 and 1,168 years, respectively.