The United Kingdom has voted to leave the European Union in a referendum.

With all the votes declared, the Leave side won by 52% to 48% with London, Scotland and Northern Ireland supporting continued UK membership in the EU, while England and Wales voted strongly for Brexit,  the BBC and Sky News reported on Friday.

The Leave campaign had a lead of more than one million votes. At 72.1%, the turnout was the highest in a national poll since the UK 1992 general election.

Nigel Farage, leader of Eurosceptic UKIP party hailed the outcome of the referendum as the UK's "independence day".

The Bank of England said that it was monitoring the situation closely and would take all necessary measures to ensure financial stability after the British pound hit a 31-year low against the US dollar on Friday morningas the markets reacted to the outcome of the vote.

Britain will be the first country to leave the EU since the formation of the bloc but the process could take at least two years.

Article 50 of the 2009 Lisbon Treaty allows a country to start formally withdrawing from the EU. Once Britain has activated this clause, it has two years to negotiate its departure with the remaining members of the bloc.