Three-quarters of those receiving accolades in the New Year's honour list are recognised for outstanding work in their communities, as celebrities receive gongs alongside those who worked tirelessly for others.
Among them is Jonjo Heuerman, who at 13 is the youngest recipient on this list and receives the British Empire Medal (BEM) after raising £250,000 for the Bobby Moore Fund at Cancer Research UK.
Jonjo Heuerman
The eldest is 99-year-old Dorothy Start, who is honoured with a BEM in recognition of more than half a century of committed community work in Friern Barnet in Hertfordshire.
Former TV journalist Martyn Lewis receives a knighthood for his charity work.
Martyn Lewis receiving an earlier honour, an MBE
Also receiving a BEM is Richard Tyler, who was in charge of the Red Cross Team during the Shoreham Airshow disaster, which saw 11 people killed in August. Falklands veteran and tireless charity campaigner Simon Weston sees his OBE upgraded to CBE.
Many Britons are celebrated for their efforts in the fight against the Ebola epidemic in west Africa, including a knighthood for Dr Michael Jacobs, clinical lead in infectious diseases at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, who treated nurses Pauline Cafferkey, Will Pooley and Anna Cross.
Dr Michael Jacobs
CBEs also go to Dr Timothy Brooks, head of the Rare and Imported Pathogens Laboratory at Public Health England, and Professor Christopher Bulstrode, Emeritus Professor at Green Templeton College, Oxford, and volunteer for Doctors of the World, while Grace Jackson, Sierra Leone Programme Manager at the Department for International Development (DFID) gets an OBE.
Many more are recognised for their work in helping others, including philanthropists Clive Cowdery, who founded the Resolution Foundation in 2005 and receives a knighthood alongside Jack Petchey, who has contributed more than £100 million since he established his foundation in 1999, which benefits young people in east London and Essex.
There are also a number of awards for services to Second World War commemoration, including Agnes Grunwald-Spier, trustee of the Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD), who receives an MBE, while Ivor Perl, an Auschwitz-Birkenau survivor who has been working with the HMD Trust in local communities, receives a BEM.
Ivor Perl describing his experiences in the Holocaust
More than one in 20 (5.7%) of those on the list come from ethnic minority communities, while 7.5% consider themselves to have a disability under the Equality Act 2010.
Just under half (48%) of those recognised are women, although the list sees a significant rise in the proportion of awards to women at senior levels, at 38% compared to 31% in the 2015 Birthday Honours.
In politics, former Lib Dem MP Ed Davey, who was Energy Secretary under the Coalition Government, is knighted along with Paul Grice, clerk and chief executive of Scottish Parliament, while Labour's Rosie Winterton, MP for Doncaster Central and Opposition Chief Whip, receives a damehood.
Sporting stars are also well represented, with a knighthood for champion jockey Tony McCoy, former motorsports star John Surtees and footballers Denis Law and Francis Lee receiving CBEs, and two-times Tour de France winner cyclist Chris Froome and snooker player Ronnie O'Sullivan handed OBEs.
Sports commentator Sue Barker receives an OBE, while sports broadcaster Jacqui Oatley, who became the first female commentator on Match Of The Day, is awarded an MBE.
Sue Barker receives an OBE, in a year with a far greater proportion of those receiving accolades were women
Other prominent names to be recognised include celebrated choreographer Matthew Bourne, who gets a knighthood.
The music industry is represented by Damon Albarn, who has enjoyed success with several other acts and receives an OBE, while an MBE has been awarded to Clifford Price - more commonly known as Goldie - for his contribution to the music, TV and film industry and his work with a number of charities.
He said he "ran to the arts, because the arts are the one thing that would never abandon me".
As in other years, the honours list has been beset by leaks, with Windsor and McCoy named as recipients some days ago while controversy over a knighthood for Lynton Crosby, David Cameron's general election strategist, also hit the headlines.
The list sees several leading business figures awarded for their efforts in boosting the UK economy, including damehoods for easyJet chief executive Carolyn McCall and the founder of high fashion website Net-A-Porter Natalie Massenet, while Ann Summers chief executive Jacqueline Gold receives the CBE.
Other women to receive top accolades include damehoods for Judith Hackitt, chairwoman of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Glenys Stacey, chief executive of exams regulator Ofqual, and Heather Rabbatts, non-executive director of the Football Association (FA).
There are many honours for people working in health and education, including 10 MBEs for nurses.
Professor Margaret Whitehead, head of Public Health and Policy at the Institute of Psychology, Health and Society at the University of Liverpool, is made a dame, as is Professor Lesley Fallowfield, director of Sussex Health Outcomes Research and Education in Cancer at the University of Sussex, while Harpal Kumar, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, is knighted.
Around one in 10 honours are for work in education, including 26 head teachers.
Susan Jowett, chief executive of the Spencer Academies Trust, receives a damehood, while Steve Lancashire, founder of REAch2, the largest primary academy sponsor in the country, Dr David Collins, the first Further Education (FE) Commissioner, responsible for driving improvement and acting quickly to tackle failing colleges, and Professor Paul Curran, Vice-Chancellor of City University, London, are all knighted.
Veteran actress Barbara Windsor tops the list of entertainers being honoured, saying she was "so very honoured, proud and extremely humbled" to be awarded a damehood.
Fellow east Londoner turned Hollywood star Idris Elba, who said receiving an OBE made him "beyond proud".
Celebrated thespian Sian Phillips is also made a dame, while Imelda Staunton receives a CBE, and actors David Oyelowo and James Nesbitt get OBEs.