Google Analytics: UK not in Western Europe

First time I've seen that

[vincevincevince]

The UK, a country which is as western as France and Spain, sharing common longitude with both, is classified by Google Analytics via the Map Overlay as 'Northern Europe'.

With parts of the territory officially classified as sub-tropical, why is the island nation no longer part of Western Europe? Is there any reason for grouping it with the chilly nations of Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland?

Keep an eye on this as the UK can be a major traffic source - be aware it's being put into the Northern European statistics.

[Quadrille]

I don't think there's a 'correct' way to categorize the UK in Europe - these are not usually geographical decisions, rather they tend to be political.

Geographically, the UK may be western rather than northern; politically, it may be western as opposed to eastern. Politically, however, there is no 'northern europe' is there?

And George Orwell is not the only one to lump the UK in with North America ;)

As for Google, they most often have a 'UK and Ireland' division; I wonder why analytics is different?

[dreamcatcher]

[en.wikipedia.org...]

[Quadrille]

Good ole wikipedia, making it up as they go along:

"but today it is generally seen to include:"

Sez Who?

I doubt one person in the UK would agree with that statement, and I'll bet many would laugh in other parts of the world, too.

It's rubbish. If pushed, most brits would say western; but without being pushed, most would either not know (or care), or would deny we were in Europe at all.

Northern Europe? Pah!

[DamonHD]

Oh I think we are at least as much northern Europe as western: we in the UK have much more mentally in common (eg as regards Calvinist work ethic) with the Germans and Scandies than (say) the Italians and Greeks. Often we are all written off together as the 'Anglo-Saxons' for example...

Rgds

Damon