| | Facts about the United States of America | | | | Historical Background | | | Britain's American colonies broke with the mother country in 1776 and were recognized as the new nation of the United States of America following the Treaty of Paris in 1783. During the 19th and 20th centuries, 37 new states were added to the original 13 as the nation expanded across the North American continent and acquired a number of overseas possessions. The two most traumatic experiences in the nation's history were the Civil War (1861-65), in which a northern Union of states defeated a secessionist Confederacy of 11 southern slave states, and the Great Depression of the 1930s, an economic downturn during which about a quarter of the labor force lost its jobs. Buoyed by victories in World Wars I and II and the end of the Cold War in 1991, the United States remains the world's most powerful nation state. | | Total Area | | Population (July 2009 estimate) | | Industries | | Land: 9,161,923 sq km | | Water: 664,707 sq km | | Total: 9,826,630 sq km | | | (includes only the 50 states
and the District of Columbia) | | | 307,212,123 The U.S.A. is the third largest country in terms of population (after China and India). | | Leading industrial power in the world, highly diversified and technologically advanced; petroleum, steel, motor vehicles, aerospace, telecommunications, chemicals, electronics, food processing, consumer goods, lumber, mining. | | | | | | | | Total Area - Comparative | | Age Structure (2009 estimate) | | Agriculture Products | The United States is about half the size of Russia; about three-tenths the size of Africa; about half the size of South America (or slightly larger than Brazil); slightly larger than China; and more than twice the size of the European Union. | | | 0-14 years: 20.2% | | 15-64 years: 67% | | 65 years and over: 12.8% | | | Wheat, corn, other grains, fruits, vegetables, cotton; beef, pork, poultry, dairy products; fish; forest products | OIL * | Oil Production (2007 estimate) | Oil Consumption (2007 estimate) | | 8.457 million bbl/day | 20.68 million bbl/day | | Oil Imports (2005) | Oil Exports (2005) | Proved Reserves of Oil (January 2008 estimate) | | 13.71 million bbl/day | 1.165 million bbl/day | 20.97 billion bbl | | * bbl = barrels |
| | | | | Elevation extremes | | Median age (2009 estimate) | | Languages (2000 census) | Lowest point:
Death Valley -86 m | | | Highest point:
Mount McKinley 6,198 m | | | | Natural resources | Coal, copper, lead, molybdenum, phosphates, uranium, bauxite, gold, iron, mercury, nickel, potash, silver, tungsten, zinc, petroleum, natural gas, timber | | | | Male: 36.4 years | | Female: 38 years | | Total: 36.7 years | | | | Life expectancy at birth (2008 estimate) | | Male: 75.29 years | | Female: 81.13 years | | Total: 78.14 years | | | | English - 82.1% | | Spanish - 10.7% | | Other Indo-European - 3.8% | | Asian and Pacific island - 2.7% | | Other - 0.7% | | | | Ethnic groups (July 2007 estimate) | | White - 79.96% | | Black - 12.85% | | Asian - 4.43% | | Amerindian / Alaska native - .97% | | Hawaiian, Pac. islanders - 0.18% | | | |
