After months of campaigning from both the Vote Leave and Vote Remain camps, the public has decided that we want to leave the EU.
BBC forecasts show that Vote Leave has won the referendum by 52% to 48%, with around 70% of the votes counted. ITV News also projects a Vote Leave win following analysis of the votes.
The question on everyone's lips is this: what happens now?
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Well, first of all it's not an automatic process. Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty will soon be triggered, which is basically the process of a member country leaving the EU. There is a two-year negotiating period as negotiations in Brussels begin to decide the future relationship between the EU and Britain.
EU laws will still apply during this period of negotiation, so it looks as though the earliest we would be free from these laws would be June 2018.
Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, has claimed that Article 50 could be triggered within two weeks. However, according to ITV, Leave campaigners have said that we don't need to trigger it straight away.
David Cameron may resign. This is something that he will have to decide over the next few days as pressures from other MPs could mount and there could be a vote of no confidence from his peers.
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In the meantime, he will have to attend an emergency meeting of European leaders to discuss Britain's exit from the EU.
Provisional figures have shown that there were 46,499,537 eligible voters in this referendum. Turnout was 72%, which is the highest level of turnout in a nationwide ballot in the UK since 1992.
Words by Mel Ramsay