Great Britain (Scottish Gaelic: Breatainn Mhòr， Welsh: Prydain Fawr， Cornish: Breten Veur， Scots: Graet Breetain) is the larger of the two main islands of the British Isles， the largest island in Europe and the ninth-largest island in the world. Great Britain is also the third most populated island on earth， with a population of 58 million people and is the worlds 5th largest economy. It lies to the northwest of Continental Europe， with Ireland to the west， and makes up the largest part of the territory of the country known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It is surrounded by over 1，000[2] smaller islands and islets. England， Scotland and Wales are mostly situated on the island， along with their capital cities， London， Edinburgh and Cardiff respectively.