What are the great positive things about Uk in context of the world ?

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T-eighty@reddit

Can you tell the people I see in Costco every week. Honestly the environmental impact of the bottled water from that shop must be insane.

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More-Caterpillar-63@reddit

Country code. I like that we decided everyone was allowed to go most places as long as you don't act like a twat.

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Right to roam in Scotland and the Nordic Countries is way, way better than what we have here. I get super-frustrated how everything is private here and outside of footpath routes, everything is private property without access rights.

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And_Justice@reddit

Where is here?

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Undrcovrcloakndaggr@reddit

England

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audigex@reddit

Considering this is a UK subreddit and they excluded Scotland, "here" is presumably England/Wales/Northern Ireland?

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And_Justice@reddit

Considering this is reddit and OC hasn't specified where they're from, presumably America

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audigex@reddit

A quick glance through OP's post history shows that they're clearly in the UK

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And_Justice@reddit

Ok well then let's see what they say

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sjw_7@reddit

I don't think our access laws are that bad in England and Wales. Its not as though there isn't plenty of space to roam already and we have an excellent network of footpaths.

Most of what you cant get to is farmland and quite rightly farmers don't want people wandering around in amongst their crops destroying stuff.

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More-Caterpillar-63@reddit

I am Scottish 😀 I have never roamed in England though so didn't realise it wasn't the same down south.

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Wgh555@reddit

Scotland is a huge chunk of the UK though. So it counts as here too

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Juilius-Sneezer@reddit

It's just on the balance of things a very good place to live. I'm a dual citizen with an EU passport as well, and the other half is American. We very much live in the UK because we've assessed all our options and we prefer it here to anywhere else we could live.

The weather, while we love to complain about it, is never really too hot or too cold. And if you do want more sunshine, it's a couple hours away on a reasonably priced flight. Average salaries could be higher sure, but could be a lot worse! Sure the NHS has seen better days, but I still stand by the fact it's one of the better universal healthcare systems out there, and the people working in it are all outstanding. There's not really much out there that can kill you - (pretty much) no guns, poisonous animals, earthquakes or tornados. And despite what the internet and politics would lead you to believe, people are pretty sound.

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Fantastic_Back3191@reddit

We're pretty much the world leaders in GigaWatt wind power generation.

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Kcufasu@reddit

No dangerous animals or weather

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AromaticVacation3077@reddit

I dunno - the squirrels get bolder every year.

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Inthepurple@reddit

My auntie actually got attacked by magpies last year lol

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whizzzzzzz@reddit

Just wait until the magpies team up with the squirrels, then we are done for !

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AromaticVacation3077@reddit

Our future depends on which way the cats go.

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handsome_vulpine@reddit

I wouldn't say the animals aren't dangerous. There are some that can still fuck you up if they choose fight.

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rabid-fox@reddit

People die from exposure frequently there was 2500 between november 2024 and January 2025. We also have floods that damage property. As far as animals Cows kill about 5 people a year. Whats worse is actually dog attacks and the the victims are suprisingly 30+

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loadofoldcodswallop@reddit

Call me daft, but is this 30+ dog attacks/victims annually, or that dog attack victims are mostly 30+ years old?

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rabid-fox@reddit

Older than 30 years old sorry. So its not children running up thinking its cute and getting mauled.

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Bbew_Mot@reddit

The weather does get a bit boring though!

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TheKingMonkey@reddit

It’s boring but at least it won’t try to kill you.

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sbaldrick33@reddit

For now, it's a semi-liberal democracy with FAPOU healthcare.

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deHaga@reddit

Panel shows

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atomic_wonder@reddit (OP)

Sense of humour

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Then_Wheel_3561@reddit

One of the only genuine things I can think of, the specific humour born out of collective misery

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guzusan@reddit

My theory is that it’s based on the miserable weather. I’ve found I get along with people from Nordic countries easily because of our similar sense of humour. Sometimes it can go the other way and they’re too… German.

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deHaga@reddit

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atomic_wonder@reddit (OP)

Ha

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IkeTurn@reddit

We don't usually have to worry if our kids will be shot to death at school most days.

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Rockyroadcaker@reddit

I know british women get mocked a lot but I love the freedom we have. Id rather be an ugly, unladylike brit and love my life doing what I want than trying to act like an acceptable lady to make someone else happy. We have a lot of personal freedom here which isnt a guarantee.

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Diddleymaz@reddit

Our electricity is the best. Proper plugs and power. Our King. The BBC.

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h00dman@reddit

Colloquial Exclamations.

I'm not actually sure if that's the right choice of words, but what I'm talking about is moments where something occurs, and after a moments silence it's followed by someone saying "Well, there we are then" or "Right, well that's that, then."

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OkContribution6454@reddit

Low crime in most areas

Most people are actually very decent and friendly

Lovely green countryside and forests

London is actually one of the greenest cities in the world

Police corruption isn't a massive problem

Great quality fresh food and produce

We're not afraid to take the piss out of ourselves or our country

NHS: Yes we moan about it, but if you get cancer or another terrible disease it doesnt even enter your head "How am I going to pay for this?"

You can literally hope over to europe for the day or weekend

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agingbiker@reddit

I seem to think that I once read that by some definitions based on tree density, london counts as woodlands.

Factcheck that cos I don't entirely believe that myself

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audigex@reddit

Kinda but not really

Taken together (which isn't really applicable), London's parks and green space could technically be considered woodland, but not the city as a whole and really not even the parks and green space overall. However, some individual parks could legitimately be considered forests

Eg this article outlines the premise, but misinterprets the result to apply it to the whole city https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/london-technically-forest-united-nations-cambridge-dictionary-b1067877.html

The UN states a forest is such when it contains “land spanning more than 0.5 hectares with trees higher than 5 metres and a canopy cover of more than 10 per cent, or trees able to reach these thresholds in situ”.

More than 40 per cent of London is made up of green space on land of 14,164 hectares. However, this includes only public land, meaning the total could be higher.

The Greater London Authority (GLA) has said the eight million trees cover 21 per cent of the land area, well over the 10 per cent needed to fulfil the UN requirement.

But trees cover 20% of the 40% of green spaces, not 10% of the entire city. Therefore London is not a forest but London's green spaces, taken together, are

However, it's a misinterpretation to combine discontinuous green areas like that and then declare that all of the green areas qualify... that's clearly not what the UN definition says

It's more accurate to say that a number of individual London parks larger than 0.5ha would be considered forests. Still a nice fact, but not even close to saying that London is a forest

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loonyleftie@reddit

r/GoodNewsUK is full of great examples but (as a small selection), we're incredible at quantum computing, we're producing massive amounts of green energy from wind turbines (1/5 of our energy in 2025), we're expected to outpace the US this year in economic growth, and this weekend is a bank holiday and 30 degrees

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Independent-Loan-581@reddit

Brits are such beautiful people with great sense of morality and respect in comparison to many other countries. <3 (im a foreigner)

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iffyClyro@reddit

NHS Scotland has never let me down.

I got a pretty solid education for free.

I could have gone to university for free as well.

It rains a lot but at least that means we can grow things and have plenty water to drink.

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Farscape_rocked@reddit

It rains a lot

But it's much warmer than other places at similar latitudes

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agingbiker@reddit

a good point - without the rain, we would have the "valley district" not the lake district

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Rasty_lv@reddit

As a foreigner, I think that UK plug and gov.uk are most superior things in their own categories. If i need to go back home, i get super frustrated using flimsy european plug. And goverment website is super simple and efficient to find any information needed.

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Psychological-Bag272@reddit

100% this. Our government is so virtual. As part of my job, I need to research so much about other country's system and processes, and our government by far is the most accessible. If you have an internet access, you will have your question answered. Most processes are done online or by post. In most countries things only get done if you turn up to a physical office 5 hours away with an original copy of a 50 year old document.

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Farscape_rocked@reddit

gov.uk really is brilliant, it's a shame most of us natives will never have to try use any other country's equivalent (or lack thereof)

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ActivistSubset7@reddit

This is something that I’d never considered, almost every question I have regarding taxes, vehicle MOTs, and laws, it’s simply explained on gov.uk. I 100% took this for granted.

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IcySetting2024@reddit

This might be controversial, but I lived in many countries and I find it still one of the most non (overall) racist countries that I’ve known

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Jerico_Hill@reddit

It was baaaad in the 80s/90s. Honestly I'm not even that brown, wouldn't be clocked as mixed race these days, but back then? Woo boy.

So much better nowadays.

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atomic_wonder@reddit (OP)

Things might be changing …

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Weekly_Branch_1997@reddit

Minimal gun crime

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iffyClyro@reddit

Pretty low violent crime across the board, not just low gun crime.

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rabid-fox@reddit

We have a low homicide rate but we're in the top 3rd still for violent crimes but you could argue its because we report it better here

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Weekly_Branch_1997@reddit

Just out of interest, who's in 1st and 2nd place?

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DrMacAndDog@reddit

Top third. Not top 3, so quite a way down

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Weekly_Branch_1997@reddit

My mistake - sorry I speed read the comment! Ahhh okay, that makes more sense!

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iffyClyro@reddit

I think England and Wales might be but Scotland has dropped out of the top third in recent time.

N.Ireland is its own beast.

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Weekly_Branch_1997@reddit

Very true!

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EatingCoooolo@reddit

I’ll mention the things I don’t like because everything is awesome in the UK and except these three things.

Low wages, small houses and the weather.

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Cultural_Wallaby_550@reddit

Banter.

Few if any other nations have “improv comedy sketch” as the default mode of conversation.

You’ll meet a stranger on an outdoor hike, briefly take the piss out of yourself/each other, then walk on never to see each other again. World class.

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Nineteen_AT5@reddit

I know people whine about this but health and safety.

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Captftm89@reddit

Bit of a boring answer, but while we're not in the very top tier within most metrics, we have it better than 90% of the world for virtually everything.

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atomic_wonder@reddit (OP)

Arts culture

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Weylane@reddit

As an immigrant, in the northeast : the people, the vibes, the landscapes.

Someone not too long ago stopped me on the street and we chatted, and after learning where I came from was very curious on why I choose "this dump" to live in. I like this dump, I like people being less close minded, I like feeling awful because everyone here does small talk to strangers, and 8 years later I'm still not used to the Tesco employee commenting on my shopping and asking if that new thing is good or not.

I like visiting the coast, the smell of the north sea and seeing the cute seals. Love saying hello to the Magpies everyday and complaining about the seagulls screeches.

I also appreciate the credit score system. Really confused me at first, but it does looks like an easy way to check for Solvency once you understand how it works. Way easier than having to fill tons of paperwork back home when you want to rent or take a loan.

BUT, to react to u/Rasty_lv : I fucking hate UK plugs. Swiss plugs are superior sorry.

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EldritchCleavage@reddit

Go and sit on the naughty step!

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60022151@reddit

Food from the supermarket is still pretty cheap. I’m English but live in New Zealand, and there’s genuinely no way I’d be able to cook a full meal for 4 for less than £5.

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EldritchCleavage@reddit

Best pomp and ceremony of anywhere outside India (they win, because elephants).

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NotAnotherAllNighter@reddit

London is the best city in the world.

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Drewski811@reddit

Almost complete absence of devastating natural disasters.

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agingbiker@reddit

don't tempt fate :)

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yearsofpractice@reddit

Right, listen - first thing I’ll say is Fuck The Police and I ain’t no grass… but the UK police are absolutely fantastic.

I’ve lived and worked in different parts of the world and the police there - even in 1st world, civilised countries - have always been aggressive, confrontational threats. The UK police are brilliant - policing by consent, always de-escalating and doing most things with a sense of humour.

But yeah - obviously Fuck The Police (but not the good humoured British police that have helped me and my family when we’ve needed that)

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TroublesZoo@reddit

Nobody is more than about an hour drive from either a beach or beautiful outdoor settings.

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agingbiker@reddit

with the roadworks around here at the moment, I'm an hour's drive from the end of my street, but I get what you mean :)

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AdRealistic4984@reddit

Extremely low road traffic accident fatality rate

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AromaticVacation3077@reddit

Just being a country that's been such a big player historically. Not remotely coming from a 'make Britain great again' POV - not at all. But when you look at the history of the last thousand or so years, we were very much in it.

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agingbiker@reddit

The countryside. Our history and the fact that we preserve it. The fact that we have London - a world city as our capital. The diversity of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and that of the British people with ancestors from overseas - that makes this small set of Islands so rich in culture and heritage.

That we are creative - science, engineering, music, art, literature - both high and popular - that entertains us and the world.

We have a complex and advanced economy which has survived countless kickings in the past, and will survive this one.

We have a sense of healthy self mockery. We can and do laugh at ourselves, particularly when we excel at coming last in the eurovision song contest and failing at the plethora of sports that we invented.

Despite the American's view of our food, we have amazing food in this country ranging from traditional favourites to the various dishes that generations of people from all the world have brought here as they made the UK their home. We've great local produce as well that delights.

The payback for our long dark winters is the summer with endless hours of sunshine, and usually the summer sun and temperatures are comfortable, not baking hot.

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WheyJordan@reddit

Our weather is a lot better than people think, we compare it a lot to hotter countries but our weather is comfortable for 99% of the year which makes for good living conditions and our air quality in comparison to most of the world is great.

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DiscussionNo8850@reddit

Beautiful spots like the lake district

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unbelievablydull82@reddit

For quite a while England wasn't as racist as people want to believe it was, and I'm saying that as someone who got daily attacks and racist abuse for being Irish. Mixing of cultures is pretty normal, particularly in London, my cousin has lived in Japan for a decade, travelled all over the world, but was born and raised in London, where she now lives. She was telling me how she was in an airport in America, and asked a black worker for help, the worker seemed a bit surprised she was being asked, and my cousin realised white people were only going up to white workers, and black people were only going up to black workers. This was a few years ago, but it really baffled her, as someone coming from a city where overall, no on cares about these things

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insertitherenow@reddit

The weather doesn’t want to kill you mostly and neither do the wildlife. Best curries outside of their homelands.

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williamsalice01@reddit

I think UK still has a lot of good things people take for granted like free healthcare, safety, diverse communities and a decent work life balance compared to many places. And honestly the mix of humour, pubs, history, countryside and city life gives the UK a charm that’s hard to explain until you live there.

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Broken_drum_64@reddit

it depends where you're comparing us against; if it's Iran it's great we don't have Americans dropping bombs on us, if its the U.S it's great we don't have to bankrupt ourselves for healthcare, have nutjobs shooting up schools, or armed fascists rounding up people off the street and sticking them in concentration camps.

If it's france, we have better beer, if it's germany we have better wine, if it's New Zealand we have a bigger population and less distance to travel between towns/cities, if it's india we have a smaller population.

I tend to think the UK is like the Mario of countries; there's other places which are nicer in many respects but the UKs a good all-rounder and doesn't really do badly in any metrics. Even the weather is just bad enough to give us something to complain about but even when it's at its worst its still fairly tolerable.

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Wgh555@reddit

I agree 100%. I do find that there is an incredibly negative online narrative about the Uk. Completely unfounded in my opinion. We’re not too terrible at anything.

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Single-Position-4194@reddit

Religious freedom; I think it's very underrated and we take it for granted. In this country you can believe anything or nothing about God, life, the universe etc. and it's no one's business except yours.

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Curious_Yak5965@reddit

Comparing to home (Ireland) there is much less cutting someone down for doing something different or making something of themselves. Sure it still happens but by in large it's far less vapid.

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Due_Resolution2634@reddit

The NHS (Which we somehow still manage to have despite every right leaning politician seemingly obsessed with selling it off)

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howunoriginal2019@reddit

The people for the main part are a lot of fun, great sense of humour.

No bugs, mosquitoes etc is plus.

Some fantastic restaurants

Great architecture in places

A real sense of history

The diversity of the people, makes things more interesting than everyone being from round the corner.

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AdDependent5136@reddit

nuffink

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soopertyke@reddit

Then might i suggest, read the plethora of positivity on this thread and maybe go out from where you live and find it for yourself?

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Party_Advantage_3733@reddit

Yeah, but i'm always running out of toner!

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hoochiscrazy_@reddit

When comparing in the grand scheme of things, almost everything. We take an incredible amount of things for granted. I'm not being funny either, genuinely.

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Bbew_Mot@reddit

Our supermarkets are generally quite good and stock a wide variety of products. German supermarkets in comparison are mostly terrible.

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MrCowabs@reddit

Our plugs and sockets

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FarwwellSlavianka@reddit

British boffin & anorak culture

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Rich_Definition_4864@reddit

The sheer density of history per square mile is something residents go numb to. You walk past a building with a small plaque that says something happened there in 1643 and nobody looks twice. Other countries build entire tourist industries around a single site of that age. The UK has so much layered history, Roman, Medieval, Industrial, Imperial, that it becomes wallpaper. That is worth stepping back and appreciating every now and then. The access people have to that, not behind expensive heritage tours but just present in the everyday fabric of towns and cities, is not normal by world standards.

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InWales-notfromWales@reddit

It's a beautiful place for most of the year. Perhaps not so much the grey, dark, drizzly winters but the rest of the year it's hard to beat. Beautiful countryside, wonderful coast, I've lived in England/Cornwall and Wales. I've not really explored Scotland yet, I'd love to visit Edinburgh one day. There's so much to explore in the UK for a relatively small place.

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RustyChuck@reddit

The sport. So many international sports are native to Britain and are still thriving here: Football (Premier League), Tennis (Wimbledon) – cricket, golf, rugby, the list goes on.

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werewolfbutch874@reddit

I moved abroad to a tropical country a year ago and am currently back for a short visit. Things I’m enjoying here: - seeing my friends and family, obviously - the weather - no seriously, I’m really enjoying being able to go outside without feeling like I’ve stepped into a sauna - cheese and pickle sandwiches, def taking some Branston back with me - the landscape - my new country has some lovely countryside as well, lots of mountains and jungle, but I come from the Fens and I’ve missed the flat horizons and wide open skies - never having to worry about a language barrier (I am trying to learn the language in my new country obviously, but it’s slow going and every interaction takes so much mental energy)

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Hips_and_Haws@reddit

More or less equal opportunities for us all regardless of gender.

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JayR_97@reddit

Minimal everyday corruption. You dont have to bribe people just to get basic shit done

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_Hologrxphic@reddit

The ability to travel!

We are so close to mainland europe with very cheap flights - people living in Australia for example would have to spend a lot of money and take a lot of time off work to visit countries that we can just go to for the weekend.

We also have a very strong passport. Not the strongest - but i’ve been travelling south east asia for the last 6 months and passport privilege is a real thing. I can just walk into countries that other people have to apply for visas and pay a lot of money for.

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oli_ramsay@reddit

Good plugs lol

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Rare-Quantity5503@reddit

So much that is taken for granted.

The UK is excellent, people generally only “look up”. X has this better, Y has that.

How about 90% of the world that is just probably worse.

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Uhurahoop@reddit

We are generally a welcoming nation I think. City life in particular shows a real diverse mix of people from all over the world. It’s similar in other places too but more noticeable in cities. We are much more integrated as well, in comparison to the US for example, where they have the diversity but ethnic groups are more segregated and interracial marriage rates are very low.

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Snazz03@reddit

Healthcare and diversity

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atomic_wonder@reddit (OP)

Women have equal rights as men

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